A beautiful story, full of magic, sensuality, secrets and prejudice.
With a touch of irony, it shatters the heavy boulders of bigotry, narrow-mindedness and envy that lead to the condemnation and marginalisation of those who break the rules and appear different.
It tells of the tranquillity of a small village, disrupted by the arrival of Vianne, a ‘stranger’ brought by the March wind on Shrove Tuesday, who opens a chocolate shop right in the middle of Lent. Her enchanted shop soon becomes a magnet for the villagers, who are curious and fascinated by this novelty, whilst the austere mayor – a Count who upholds the collective moral integrity – is seething.
An insidious conflict arises between the power of the mayor, steadfast in his strict observance of every ecclesiastical rule, and the allure of a place of delightful indulgence.
The aromas and colours of the chocolate shop stir the soul of every villager, to whom the scents of imagination and novelty seem unfamiliar.
Prejudice versus freedom, sadness versus vitality, resentment versus openness: two mindsets, two cultures clash through the eye-catching shop window, brimming with chocolate.