Chocolat : Everybody is tutuying everybody

All I know about French is what I learned in high school, but in CHOCOLAT it seems strange to me that the moment these 19th-century people are introduced to one another they call one another "tu." I thought that it was only 20th-century youth culture that put peers immediately on a "tu" basis with one another. Am I misinformed?

Nozz, you must consider the context of the characters here. They are circus artists, not high society. Saying "tu" (tutoiement is the correct term) was always common in the popular classes, even before the french revolution. There is also the fact that the main character is black, and at the time, unlike in America, colored people enticed a sense of familiarity, not far from talking to a kid.
Sure it was a bit condescending, when compared to the modern use of the tutoiement, but oddly enough, it was a step up from the colonial "we" (nous), that was used to speak to indigenous french subjects throughout the empire.

Thanks. I liked the film, and if the "tu" isn't anachronistic, tant mieux.

ps : i'm french.

you are wrong.
when the circus employer from paris came to meet the duet, he did not "tutuy" at all.

Then, at the museum when Chocolat met for the first time his love-nurse, he did not "tutuy" her. Moreover, there, the public who photographed him , did not tutuy neither.

did you see the french version in french language or the US version with french subtitles ?

I saw the French version. It could be that when people vousoied one another it passed me by because it sounded natural to me whereas much of the tutuying startled me.