Sweet Surrender

I do not know many people who do not like sweets, especially chocolate. Besides being delicious, chocolate also has a lot of great benefits to the human body. Unfortunately, the body of a diabetic is slightly different than a non-diabetic due to the limited functioning of the pancreas. This means that candy, chocolate and other sweets have to be heavily monitored in order to maintain healthy glucose or blood sugar levels. While there aren’t a multitude of movies that feature diabetics, much less their love of chocolate, Chocolat, directed by Lasse Hallstrom flawlessly depicts the sweet tooth a diabetic woman and the consequences of these cravings.  

Chocolat, the screenplay based on Joanne Harris’ novel is an excellent movie with a plot that will have the viewer both laughing and crying. As a mother and daughter live their lives following the north wind and setting up their chocolate shop everywhere they land, they end up in a small, conservative French village, where they do not immediately fit in. As the chocolatier becomes more popular with the villagers, offering them indulgent candies they have never tasted before and becoming a local pharmacist for illnesses of the mind and heart, a few characters begin to frequent her shop. One of those characters is Armande, played by Judi Dench. 

Armande is the mother of an uptight “holy roller” who refuses to let her own mother see her grandson. Armande finds satisfaction and comfort in being in the chocolate shop, speaking to its owner, Vivienne, played by Juliette Binoche, and eating many of the decadent chocolate specialties. It is not until later in the film that we learn, through Armande’s daughter’s rant against Vivienne, that Armande is a diabetic and is quickly killing herself with each chocolate morsel she ingests.

So, does Armande indeed kick the bucket? The movie is just too good for me to give up all the sweet details. I highly recommend this film for all viewers over the age of sixteen. It is especially amusing to those who like comedy, drama, religious satire and foreign films.

It is characteristic of the diabetic to overindulge in foods that they should not eat. I am unsure whether this is a state of denial, craving or something else, but as Armande instructs her grandson, it seems that she is attempting to “live a little”. While this is good advice for all individuals, it may need to be tweaked for diabetics, for whom the practice of caution when it comes to gustatory indulgences is extremely necessary. They should closely follow the mantra Eat to Live rather than Live to Eat.