 | ‘Manon of the Spring’ moves with a majestic pacing over the affairs of four generations, demonstrating that the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children. |
Marcel Pagnol (1895-1974) began his career as a playwright in the 1920s but by the end of the decade had become fascinated with film. His play Marius was adapted to the big screen in his native France in 1931, and the following year Pagnol founded his own film production company. He made many films during his lengthy career, but few were as contentious as his 1952 feature ‘Manon des Sources’; running nearly four hours in length, it was considered too long by its distributor and butchered. Heartbroken, Pagnol returned to writing. Among his most revered works was his novelization of the film, published in the early 1960s under the title L’Eau des collines [Water of the Hills]. It, too, was considered too long, but rather than cut it down, the Pagnol broke it into two novels, ‘Jean de Florette’ and ‘Manon des Sources’.
Claude Berri’s 1986 film, the sequel to his classic Jean de Florette, is also set in beautiful Provence. This lyrical sequel to the grander, operatic part one now sees Jean de Florette's daughter Manon, (beautifully played by Emmanuelle Béart) now 10 years older and a thousand times fairer, turning the water tables on Daniel Auteuil and the downright cruel yet brilliant Yves Montand, who was raised in the area where the story takes place and had been a friend of Marcel Pagnol.
‘Manon of the Spring’ moves with a majestic pacing over the affairs of four generations, demonstrating that the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children. ‘Manon’ is self-contained and can be understood without having seen ‘Jean de Florette’ as each film is structured like a Greek tragedy as director, Claude Berri, has a larger point he wants to make, involving poetic justice on a scale that spans the generations.
The novels and films present a world in which agriculture for external markets may increase the demand for water, but the loss of water comes only from the actions of individuals within the village. And in turn the village is premised on a solidarity marked by insularity and the expectation that none interfere in others’ affairs, particularly when recent arrivals to the village would benefit.
Marcel Pagnol’s (1895-1974) novels, ‘Jean de Florette’ and ‘Manon des Sources’ offered a representation of the pre-war people in Provence that appealed to urbanizing French men and women who spoke of the rural, provincial origins of their families. These two films, enormous arthouse hits in 1986, defined a mythic Provence for international audiences and sparked a huge increase in tourism to southern France. Claude Berri clearly wanted to present a peasant culture with an authenticity for his viewers – de achieved this and so much more…
Claude Berri’s 1986 film, the sequel to his classic Jean de Florette, is also set in beautiful Provence. This lyrical sequel to the grander, operatic part one now sees Jean de Florette's daughter Manon, (beautifully played by Emmanuelle Béart) now 10 years older and a thousand times fairer, turning the water tables on Daniel Auteuil and the downright cruel yet brilliant Yves Montand, who was raised in the area where the story takes place and had been a friend of Marcel Pagnol.
‘Manon of the Spring’ moves with a majestic pacing over the affairs of four generations, demonstrating that the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children. ‘Manon’ is self-contained and can be understood without having seen ‘Jean de Florette’ as each film is structured like a Greek tragedy as director, Claude Berri, has a larger point he wants to make, involving poetic justice on a scale that spans the generations.
The novels and films present a world in which agriculture for external markets may increase the demand for water, but the loss of water comes only from the actions of individuals within the village. And in turn the village is premised on a solidarity marked by insularity and the expectation that none interfere in others’ affairs, particularly when recent arrivals to the village would benefit.
Marcel Pagnol’s (1895-1974) novels, ‘Jean de Florette’ and ‘Manon des Sources’ offered a representation of the pre-war people in Provence that appealed to urbanizing French men and women who spoke of the rural, provincial origins of their families. These two films, enormous arthouse hits in 1986, defined a mythic Provence for international audiences and sparked a huge increase in tourism to southern France. Claude Berri clearly wanted to present a peasant culture with an authenticity for his viewers – de achieved this and so much more…
