Marcel Pagnol was rightly admitted into the Acadamie Francaise, just about the highest honor a French writer can receive. No less a major force than Orson Welles described Pagnol's own movie 'La Femme du Boulanger' (The Baker's Wife) as the greatest movie ever made. For someone with a limited canvas - Provence, its small hamlets, the port of Marseilles, and the people who lived there - he sure extracted the maximum mileage. Jean de Florette and its sequel Manon des Source has now arguably become the highest profile of all Pagnol's work eclipsing even the great trilogy 'Marius', 'Cesar' and 'Fanny' featuring the great Raimu, and his two autobiographical works My Father's Glory and My Mother's Castle. It is very gratifying for someone with a healthy streak of cynicism in their makeup to read such glowing tributes to this movie. If French cinema NEEDED an ambassador, which it doesn't, then these two titles - shot back to back as Montand's wife, Simone Signoret, lay dying - could not be bettered. To add any superlatives to those already posted here would be superfluous so just let me say that Montand is at the top of his game and that is saying something. Superb entertainment with terrific ensemble playing. An all-time great. 11/10
Review of Jean de Florette
