Shepherding
Sometimes I feel that God is like the wind. We cannot see either in front of us, but we know that both exist due to the effects that they procure. A wind gust brings movement in the trees, fallen branches and occasional power outages. God’s existence has brought followers, opposition, wars, government, and a moral code for humanity. Some might argue that every action some (or all) human beings make is a result of God’s prevalence on Earth. But how can this be? How can an invisible force bring about so many real, visible consequences? Perhaps the answer has to do with the “guidance” that both bring about--the shepherding influence that invisible forces around us have on our lives. (After all, Jesus is referred to as the “Good Shepherd”)! In the film Chocolat, “shepherds” and their effects on followers teach us how we, as inevitable shepherds and followers, should view the quality of goodness and happiness in our lives.
Several shepherding figures exist in Chocolat. The Comte de Reynaud acts as a shepherd for the village, fostering his own rigid flavor of Tranquilite and making strong suggestions to the villagers about how to live their lives in order to foster this Tranquilite and the sanctity of the group. Pere Henri acts as a shepherd in holy matters, interpreting God’s word to fit the Comte’s shepherding mold. The Clever North Wind shepherds Vianne Rocher and her mother, moving them from place to place and urging them to help others in Vianne’s own sweet ways. In this essay, I will focus on the shepherding styles of Caroline Clairmont and Vianne in how they shepherd their children, Luc Clairmont and Anouk Rocher.
Caroline Clairmont, an assistant to the Comte de Reynaud, lives a very straight-laced life. Caroline has a strict view of God, (which some might argue is more a view of religion since her actions seem to lack spirituality): rituals must be followed, mass must be attended, and family infrastructure must be fostered. Caroline is particularly controlling of her actions since she has been warned by the Comte, her leader and boss, that (extremely) strict adherence to the moral and ethical standards cast by the Comte and the Catholic Church are vital to happiness, even though the villagers’ following of such standards leads to unhappiness. But more than the Comte’s or God’s influence, Caroline seems to live by strict standards to regain a card house-like control of her family upon feeling unpleasant with her rearing by the wild Armande Voizin. Having been raised by the rebellious, outspoken Armande, Caroline believes that the best way to shepherd Luc is to set strict rules upon his actions and expect pristine behavior as his response. Caroline has fit her life into a grid: every week, she has her hair styled, she provides a loving home for Luc, she helps him with his homework, and encourages that he draws versus playing with friends. Caroline clearly strives to raise Luc as a quiet, introverted child, since this type is more likely to respect the wishes of authority. Just as Caroline strives to adhere to strict standards of the exclusive, perfect God presented to the villagers by Comte de Reynaud, she has shepherded a boy who knows well how to follow--despite his own desires.
Vianne Rocher is a warm, rebellious character. She moves with Anouk Rocher, her daughter, from place to place sharing her influential chocolate and ideas to both those who will listen and those who will not. Vianne was raised by her ethnic mother in the same fashion: creating delicious chocolate using ancient Mayan recipes and following no direction other than tradition and the unpredictable beckoning of the Clever North Wind. We are never confirmed as to Vianne’s image of God, so we have no right to describe her any kind of believer or non-believer in any religious framework. Vianne’s beliefs reside in inclusion and outreach. Vianne clearly believes that a right action is one that makes people happy, so she shares indulgent chocolate with others, inspires creativity, and exhibits friendliness to those outcast by the harsh mores of Comte de Reynaud’s Tranquilite. Vianne’s kind actions include protecting a social outcast, Josephine Muscat, who has been abused by her husband, Serge Muscat, bringing happiness to the grouchy Armande Voizin, mending the lost passion between Yvette Marceau and Alphonse Marceau, and befriending Roux the pirate who had been boycotted for his “immorality”. Vianne is clearly an open-minded and accepting individual and encourages Anouk to be as well. Vianne and Anouk are extremely close; they sleep in the same bed, spend all of their free time together, and share openly their life happenings. In her accepting nature, Vianne allows Anouk to foster a public belief in an imaginary kangaroo friend, Pontouf, play cards at the bar with grown men, and make friends with whosoever Anouk choses (such as Roux’s niece). Vianne’s belief that happiness does not come from rituals performed to a God but from kindness to those around her shepherds Anouk into an outgoing, loving child who is every bit as rebellious to societal conformity as Vianne.
Like the wind’s or God’s invisibility procuring visible manifestations of their influence, we can judge the character of Caroline Clairmont and Vianne Rocher based on the actions of their shepherded children. Both Luc and Anouk are good-hearted children: they try to obey their mothers’ rules but live spirited lives according to their own intuitions. Luc is extremely well-behaved: he attends church with his mother, resists boisterous play, completes his schoolwork, and tries to resist Vianne’s chocolate even when his mother is not around. But the viewer senses that Luc is an unhappy child at the beginning of the movie, since his drawings, (one of a dead bird), are fairly morbid. Luc seems to feel trapped by his mother’s wishes, especially when he is forbidden from visiting with his grandmother or eating chocolate during Lent. So, like any child, Luc rebels. He begins visiting Armande at the chocolate shop in secret; eating chocolate and reading poetry that his mother would certainly not approve of. Luc, clearly afraid of the harsh punishment that his mother might inflict should she uncover his taboo actions, rebels in secret. Anouk, on the other hand, rebels from Vianne openly. She engages in fights at school, physically resists moving and directly complains about Vianne’s lack of conformity in society (not attending church or wearing black shoes). Anouk is an accepting and friendly child who is open with her emotions and desires. Neither child is perfect. Luc is often unhappy due to his restraints from freedom and Anouk is unhappy due to her lack of stability--even in endless freedom.
So, how is a shepherd to tend his flocks? Chocolat presents a stark, black-and-white scenario in which Vianne shepherds with complete freedom and Caroline shepherds without any freedom: such are clear statement of how we may interpret God. Is God a shepherd to whom we must strictly obey, one who expects perfection and self-restraint? Or is God a shepherd who inspires kindness as the only rule? Does the former represent the Torah’s Law, and the latter represent the Golden Rule of Jesus’ teachings?
Chocolat confirms the latter. In Pere Henri’s final sermon, he rejects convention in religion, saying, “Do I want to speak of the miracle of Our Lord's divine transformation? Not really, no. I don't want to talk about His divinity. I'd rather talk about His humanity” (imdb.com). Clearly, Pere Henri is discarding the Comte’s ideas of strict adherence to divinity and perfection in lieu of other themes; “I think that we can't go around... measuring our goodness by what we don't do. By what we deny ourselves, what we resist, and who we exclude. I think... we've got to measure goodness by what we embrace, what we create... and who we include” (imdb.com). This is evidenced by Caroline and Luc’s transformation toward the end of the movie into warmer, more accepting individuals.
In Chocolat, viewers are confronted with several controversies: ritual versus rebellion, society versus outcast, quiet versus noise, and freedom versus entrapment. Perhaps Pere Henri’s sermon provides the answer to our original question: how do shepherds affect the way in which we view goodness and happiness? Chocolat argues that shepherds should foster goodness in their followers, and the film’s Pere Henri has suggested that goodness must create happiness for all. Be it the shepherding influences of characters in Chocolat, the wind or the Almighty God, we should consider that the happiness of the followers indicate the goodness of the shepherd.
