The Pleasures of Chocolate: Comfort

In Part One of "The Pleasures of Chocolate: Four Weeks, Four Films" we take a look at how a cup of hot chocolate serves to comfort a young soldier in Jean-Pierre Jeunet's 2004 romantic epic, A Very Long Engagement.

Gaspard Ulliel stars as Manech, the Cornflower, in "A Very Long Engagement"

Manech a.k.a. The Cornflower (Gaspard Ulliel) is a young French soldier suffering from shellshock.  In an attempt to return home to his beloved Mathilde (Audrey Tautou), he holds his hand out for a German to shoot.  However, self-mutiliation is a war crime, causing the Cornflower and four other soldiers to be taken to Bingo Crepuscule, where they'll be sent and expected to die in the No-Man's-Land between the French and German trenches.

On the night they arrive at Bingo, Manech still is not fully aware of the situation he's in.  When asked what he wants for dinner, he requests hot chocolate and bread with honey.  Such things are not common in the trenches, and yet the army chef, Celestine Poux (Albert Dupontel) manages to find it for him.

Celestine Poux asks what Manech would like to eat.

This is considered the Cornflower's last meal, after all.  He is not fully aware of that, as the shellshock has addled his mind slightly (see his words in a picture below).  Still, it is rather bold of him to ask for hot chocolate and bread with honey while the rest of the men get soup.  Either way, Celestine is aware of the importance that this meal will be.  Due to the war, he has to improvise and create meals out of whatever is available to him, and yet he also has the reputation of acquiring anything that the soldiers need.  

The Mess Hall Maurader never fails, and brings the Cornflower his meal.

It is rather miraculous that he knows where to acquire chocolate and honey, and even more miraculous that Celestine finds for Manech "salted Guérande butter, lavender honey, and cocoa from Nigeria."  Also, given the child-like nature of Manech at this point, as well as the pity everyone in the trenches feels for him (oh, did I mention he's an orphan?), Celestine would never have done this for another soldier.  Such a meal is the ultimate comfort, which every other man in the trench is aware of.

Manech is thankful of the kind gesture, and eats his food as calmly as if he were having a midnight snack.  This shows both how unaware he is of how rare his meal is, but also how aware he is of its meaning to him.  He's not shoving it down his throat in earnest hunger, but treating it as a true meal: something tasted and appreciated in every bite.  It is his slow and peaceful eating that truly affirms the meal as a comfort for Manech.  

"I hear her heart beating, like Morse code.  We're engaged.  Luckily we won't have to wait till the end of war.  Now I can go straight home after the execution."

Overall, this scene is rather brief and some may consider it unimportant in the grand scheme of the film.  After all, within the film it is merely a story told by one soldier to Mathilde, as she is desperate for any memoirs they have of Manech.  However, it also provides a lot of exposition to the nature of trench warfare and the importance of all the small reminders of normalcy.  Never does another soldier make a grab for Manech's meal, they don't fight for it themselves.  Not just because it's his last meal, but because this is young Manech.  They sit and watch him as if they were watching their own younger selves.

Such a simple meal represents the life they left behind in order to fight.  In the grand scheme, yes, a short scene of Manech having hot chocolate and honey bread may seem expendable.  But it is symbolic of the soldiers' longing for any comforts of home, and their own appreciation and sadness that such comforts are given to a young man expected to die.

The other soldiers look on as Manech enjoys his meal and talks of Mathilde.

For what it's worth, I planned on using a brief scene from Empire of the Sun featuring young Jim (Christian Bale) talking to Dainty (Ben Stiller) about a Hershey bar.  But that scene - and a few others later that address it - didn't have as much of an impact to the story as Manech's last meal does.  It shows how comforting food can be, and not the childhood comforts of a favorite cereal or ready-to-make meal.  It's the comforts that food bring of the past, and of the the peaceful times that make us truly appreciate our lives.

- Sonic