Roses and Chocolates
“Roses and Chocolates” is not your typical historical romance novel; it’s a groundbreaking television serial narrative that weaves together love, conflict, and the enduring human spirit across five seasons and thirty-two years. This epic tale takes us on a journey through the tumultuous years of World War II and beyond, showcasing the lives of two lead characters, Veronica and Hans, whose love story is entwined with the horrors of war, personal sacrifices, and the unbreakable bonds that transcend time and adversity.
Roses and chocolates – Love’s Resilience
At its core, “Roses and Chocolates” stands out for its innovative narrative structure. By braiding multiple time periods based on true events, the show breaks free from conventional war story tropes. It deftly explores the enduring aftermath of conflict, examining its reverberations not only in the larger societal context but also in the lives of survivors and the generations that follow. This unique structure adds depth and complexity to the story, allowing viewers to witness the characters’ growth, transformation, and resilience over the years.
Roses and chocolates – A Saga of Love and Liberation
The first season sets the stage for the epic romance. Veronica, a Berlin café waitress, and Hans, an SS officer, become unlikely lovers amidst the chaos of war. Their relationship is both passionate and forbidden, with Veronica concealing her involvement in the White Rose movement—a courageous effort to save German Jews from persecution. The stakes rise as Veronica becomes pregnant and Hans is sent to oversee a concentration camp in Poland. Their paths diverge, but destiny has more in store for them.
Roses and Chocolates- Threads of Time
As the narrative unfolds, we are transported through five distinct time frames. The first, set in 1943-1944, captures the urgency and intensity of their love against the backdrop of a world at war. The second, spanning 1944-1945, reveals the unraveling of Hans’s loyalty to the Nazi regime as he becomes a reluctant hero in aiding a Polish Jewish prisoner’s escape. Simultaneously, Veronica navigates the challenges of raising their child in occupied Norway.
Roses and Chocolates- Hearts Across Battlefields
The subsequent seasons delve into a post-war Europe scarred by the ravages of conflict. Veronica and Hans, having lost everything, embark on separate journeys of rebuilding and redemption. Their stories intersect with the larger narrative of a continent in flux, as the wounds of war heal and new challenges emerge.
At its heart, “Roses and Chocolates” is a story of romance, but it is also a profound exploration of humanism. The series delves into the complexities of love, loss, and the pursuit of freedom, all while peeling back the layers of its central characters’ lives. Veronica and Hans’s struggles to find each other amidst the chaos mirror the broader theme of the human quest for connection and meaning in the face of adversity.
The show’s meticulous attention to character development and its calculated revelations make it a procedural in its own right—a thoughtful dissection of the protagonists’ journeys, both as individuals and as a couple. The underlying theme of relationships between men and women adds depth to the narrative, offering a poignant exploration of the intricate dynamics that shape human connections.
Beyond Conflict’s Shadow: Chronicles of Love in Roses and Chocolate
As “Roses and Chocolates” sets its sights on production and five captivating seasons, the future vision is one of promise and intrigue. Maria Johnsen, the driving force behind this visionary project, seeks to collaborate with TV networks that recognize the power and potential of this one-hour episodic drama. With its multilayered storytelling, compelling characters, and exploration of love and resilience, “Roses and Chocolates” is poised to captivate audiences, inviting them to embark on a journey through history, emotion, and the enduring power of the human spirit.
“Fallen into the Unknown” is the soundtrack album featuring 7 songs I composed for Roses and Chocolates, a series currently in the financing process.
Roses and chocolates
An unlikely couple is torn between their disparate worlds and their love for each other. Based on Maria Johnsen’s novel “Roses and Chocolates” This is a 5 seasons TV series. The story starts from 1943 until 1975.
Logline:
Pregnant Veronica is discovered helping the German Jews, forced to flee, she and her unborn child go into hiding leaving the love of her life behind. Can this family be reunited after three decades of time apart?
Genre: Drama
Producer, writer, director: Maria Johnsen
Production: Golden Way Media Films
Roses and Chocolates is a one hour episodic serial narrative which functions as a historical romance novel for television. Ostensibly, the five seasons are an epic thirty two-year story of love separated by war, following two lead individuals, their struggles, and the changes and contradictions in their lives and characters over these three decades, as well as that of the loved ones they hold close.
Roses and Chocolates reinvents the procedural form using a unique, layered story structure which braids multiple time-periods, based on true events. This structure breaks apart the traditional tropes that audiences are familiar with from war stories, as we see the repercussions and resonance of conflict, both in the wider society and in the lives of the survivors and for the next generation to come.
The first ten episode season details the romance of the two lead characters, Veronica (a Berlin café waitress) and Hans (an SS officer). During the affair Veronica falls pregnant but soon Hans goes to Poland to fulfill his SS duties (watching over a concentration camp) while Veronica becomes part of the White Rose movement, sneaking German Jews out of Germany (something she must conceal from Hans). Eventually her secret is revealed and, to save her life and that of her unborn child, she steals an airplane from her father’s factory. On the way to the U.S., their plane crashes near Oslo, Norway, where Veronica gives birth to a boy (Peter).
This is only the beginning of a generation-spanning romance, exploring love, loss and struggle against the backdrop of WWII and the scars it leaves across Europe.
A UNIQUE STRUCTURE
The narrative is structured in FIVE TIME-FRAMES across five seasons. The first is a dramatization of 1943-1944; the majority of the ten episodes exist as the dramatization of two central cases which relate to the fighting for freedom, as well as the complications of Veronica and Hans’s struggle to be together and growing awareness of the horror of the Nazi regime.
The second time-frame is 1944-1945; showing Hans growing horror at the killings in the Polish concentration camps and ultimately helping SZYMON (a polish Jewish prisoner) and his inmates in a prison break. Simultaneously Veronica is living in hidden in Norway under occupation of the Nazi raising Hans’ child.
In following seasons we explore a Europe ravaged by war and the efforts of our central characters to rebuild their lives, having lost everything.
ROMANCE
A.) A primary layer of romance is created in the pursuit for true love in WW2 and the personal lives of Veronica and Hans along with each war prisoners in Poland. Every single character has a story to tell and beneath all these stories lies love and family values.
B.) A secondary layer of love is created in 1950, as we try to understand exactly what happens to Hans and Veronica after war. At first, we learn that Hans learns the Nazi ideology is not the way of life and patriotism; he discovers the love of freedom from all ideologies and decides on helping prisoners.
HUMANISM
Part of the driving, underlying drama of the series is in learning how Veronica and Hans deal with trying to love, lose and find each other, when life has other plans for them, and how each grows and changes significantly through the hardships and challenges they face. As the main storyline finds drama in romance, it also mines the personal lives and the contradictions essential in Hans and Veronica, as well as the other characters in their lives.
Insofar as the narrative is a calculated series of revelations, the series itself is a procedural, its subject a dissection of the characters of this couple as much as the hunt for freedom and finding each other. The much larger subtext and theme for the show, however, is a sustained, intelligent exploration of relationships between men and women.
Contact Maria Johnsen to discuss about production and 5 seasons. Currently we are looking for TV networks who have audience for a one hour episodic TV drama.
