Chocolat Journal

Shaman as confectioner - confectioner as shaman. In the film Chocolat, the two vocations are indistinguishable. 

James Keller writes that the primary duty of the Shaman is spiritual healing. Whereas a doctor aids in damage to the body, the Shaman seeks to remedy damages to the soul. Various members of the village suffer from varying damage to their soul - and through chocolate, tutelage, and advice, Vianne manages to start each of them on a path towards self-betterment and spiritual growth.
Several traditional characteristics of a Shaman are given to Vianne - some literally, and some in sly nods of the head. One such trait is the inheritance of ability through family. Like a Mayan Shaman, who learns their trade through a parent, Vianne’s gifts are acquired hereditarily through her mother - a healer of Central American origins. (Further exemplified by Vianne’s daughter too being a chocolatier legacy.)
Vianne’s Shamanistic parallels are further revealed in her near clairvoyant ability to diagnose her customer/patient’s ailments and prescribe the correct remedy. This is apparent when she reunites Armande, a bitter and lonely woman, with her grandson, Luc, who Keller describes as a “solitary and melancholy boy,” over hot chocolate and cake. Vianne reinvigorates the sex life of a married couple after ‘prescribing’ a bag of chocolate beans. But Vianne’s ability to heal is perhaps most illustrated through her mentoring of Josephine. In this case, Vianne recognizes that the spiritual healing needed for this abused woman is not the consumption of chocolate, but the learning of the craft. In teaching Josephine the tricks of the trade, Vianne is both giving Josephine a sense of independence and self-worth and, in keeping with the idea that Vianne is the town Shaman, passing on her legacy.
The difference between the priest and the Shaman - exemplified in the film by Vianne’s decision to open her shop across the square from the church - is that the Shaman is devoted to “the technology of ecstasy”. The Shaman heals through indulgence and pleasure. And is there anything on this Earth more indulgent and pleasurable than chocolate?

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