Jean de Florette

Jean de Florette is a novel by Marcel Pagnol, published in 1966. It was adapted into a critically acclaimed and commercially successful 1986 French language motion picture.

Movie

Nominated for eight César Awards, the film has been selected by the New York Times as one of "The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made." The book's sequel, Manon des sources, was subsequently filmed with almost equal success.

Related Topics:
César Award - New York Times - Manon des sources

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Plot

The action takes place in a small village in the south of France, shortly after the First World War. Cesar Soubeyran and his nephew, Ugolin, are desperate to buy a farm whose owner they accidentally killed, but the farm is inherited by Jean, a hunchbacked tax collector whose late mother, Florette, was once Cesar's girlfriend. Still hurt by Florette's desertion of him, Cesar, with Ugolin's help, stops up the natural spring that provides water to the land that Jean has inherited, and gradually the hunchback, his wife and daughter are reduced to poverty and desperation. In the end, Jean is killed in an accident as a result of his attempts to find ways of supplying water to his land. However, his young daughter, Manon, suspects the Soubeyrans of being responsible. In the sequel, she obtains her revenge.

Related Topics:
France - First World War

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Interpretations:

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Water as a metaphor for cash-flow? Noting Jean's profession of tax-collector, the film might be read as a socialist defence of state subsidy for struggling French farmers? Pagnol created the story at around the time of the inception of the European Union. Alternatively, Jean's struggle represents the artist's struggle to create, despite the adverse reaction of his society.

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Primary cast

• Yves Montand - Cesar Soubeyran/'Le Papet'
• Gérard Depardieu - Jean de Florette
• Daniel Auteuil - Ugolin
• Elisabeth Depardieu - Aimee Cadoret
• Margarita Lozano - Baptistine
• Ernestine Mazurowna - Manon Cadoret

Awards

Award wins:

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• BAFTA Award for Best Film
• United States National Board of Review Award for Best Foreign Language Film
• César Award for Best Actor - Daniel Auteuil
• BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role – Daniel Auteuil
• BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography - Bruno Nuytten
• BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenply – Claude Berri & Gérard Brach

Award nominations:

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• BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Language Film
• César Award for Best Film – Bruno Nuytten
• BAFTA Award for Best Actor - Yves Montand
• BAFTA Award for Best Actor - Gérard Depardieu
• BAFTA Award for Best Direction - Claude Berri
• César Award for Best Director – Claude Berri
• BAFTA Award for Best Make Up Artist - Michèle Dernelle & Jean-Pierre Eychenne
• BAFTA Award for Best Production Design – Bernard Vézat
• César Award for Best Cinematography – Bruno Nuytten
• César Award for Best Music Written for a Film – Jean-Claude Petit
• César Award for Best Sound – Pierre Gamet, Laurent Quaglio, Dominique Hennequin
• César Award for Best Screenplay - Claude Berri & Gérard Brach