Chocolat (2000)

Hugh O'Conor: Pere Henri

Photos 

Quotes 

• Pere Henri : I'm not sure what the theme of my homily today ought to be. 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. I mean, you know, how He lived His life, here on Earth. His *kindness*, His *tolerance*... Listen, here's what I think. 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.

• [first lines] 

  Storyteller : [voice over]  Once upon a time, there was a quiet little village in the French countryside, whose people believed in Tranquilité - Tranquility.

  Storyteller : [voice over continues as the Sunday morning congregation sings]  If you lived in this village, you understood what was expected of you. You knew your place in the scheme of things. And if you happened to forget, someone would help remind you.

  Pere Henri : [as a wife kicks her sleeping husband in the pew]  The season of Lent is upon us. This is of course a time of abstinence. Hopefully also it's a time of reflection. Above all let this be for us a time... a time of sincere penitence. It is a time to stand up and be counted...

  Storyteller : [voice over]  In this village, if you saw something you weren't supposed to see, you learned to look the other way. If perchance your hopes had been disappointed, you learned never to ask for more. So, through good times and bad, famine and feast, the villagers held fast to their traditions. Until, one winter day, a sly wind blew in from the North...

• Pere Henri : [hearing confession]  What else?

  Guillaume Blerot : Impure thoughts. The woman who runs the chocolaterie...

  Pere Henri : Vianne Rocher?

  Guillaume Blerot : She suggested I buy chocolate sea shells for the widow Audel. And, well... I guess that got me to thinking, about the widow Audel.

  Pere Henri : At her age? At *your* age?

  Guillaume Blerot : Yes, and yes.

• Comte de Reynaud : [forcing Serge into the confessional]  He is ready.

  Pere Henri : But confession must be made in the spirit of contrition.

  Comte de Reynaud : [pulling open the curtain]  You, have you come in the spirit of contrition?

  Serge Muscat : Contrition... yes contrition,

  Comte de Reynaud : [shutting curtain]  He is ready.

• Pere Henri : Satan wears many guises. At times, Satan is the singer of a lurid song you hear on the radio. At times, the author of a salacious novel. At times, the quiet man lurking in the schoolyard - asking your children if he might join their game. And at times, the maker of sweet things. Mere trifles. For what could seem more harmless, more innocent, than chocolate?