Jofroi

Jofroi is a rickety yet feisty old man who lives with his wife in Maussan. He sells their orchard in order to purchase an annuity and live his old age out with his wife. The problem is that the fruit trees in the orchard have long since stopped bearing fruit. The purchaser, Fonse, would like to tear them down and crop the field with wheat. Jofroi, objects to the plan but already sold the orchard.

Much humour has already been had by this point in the simple exchanges at the notary's office and in Jofroi's field. Whilst the film is comic, it also runs extremely deep. For my part it is almost a textbook on conflict resolution, I learnt from this film. The writing and depictions have a deep understanding of the nature of violence and sentiment, violence here meaning that which is not voluntary. Jofroi, half mad, and clinging to sacred sentiments, has no legal rights over the orchard, perhaps not even moral rights, but human feelings traverse those domains. Both Fonse and Jofroi suffer emotionally from their disagreement, both seek community arbitration. The resolution is finely crafted, even in the absence of one of the parties, respect is given.

I have seen showier films, I have seen maximal films, I have seen armies clash, dragons flame, ringed planets, gangs armed to the teeth. I have not seen a more human film than Jofroi. I wish this were shown in every school.

Jofroi and his mother keep on repeating this to the notary(solicitor) and to the buyer of his garden.But the problem is that in the garden ,there are trees and those trees,Joffroi -who was an ecologist ahead of his time- does not want them to be cut down.Then begins an interminable fight between him and his pal.The vicar intervenes ,which is very funny when you know about the milieu in which Marcel Pagnol was nurtured (for that matter see Yves Robert's excellent "La Gloire de Mon Père "and "Le Château de mon Père" or read these charming memoirs:Pagnol's father Joseph was an anti-clerical die-hard.).Life in the small village of Provence is ,as usual in Pagnol's films ,wonderfully depicted.There's something Christian in the conclusion of this short (50 min)film.

The best-known Pagnol films tend to run long. He was writer, director, and I gather editor for the films his company produced, so as editor he went easy on himself. That always produces a leisurely, if appropriate pace in his movies.

The same is true here with Jefroi. It is just that the story he has to tell is a short one, so the movie runs less than an hour. And, as with most Pagnol films, the plot is simplicity itself: Jefroi sells his orchard to Alphonse. Alphonse wants to use the land for crops, so he starts to cut down the trees. Jefroi is furious: how can someone cut down those trees? He threatens to commit suicide so that the small town will blame Alphonse and Alphonse's life will be miserable. Alphonse, the curate, the teacher, and some of the townsfolk spend the rest of the movie trying to keep Jefroi from committing suicide.

This is not complicated - though the ending is a clever and unforeseen twist. Still, the movie is not about the plot; it is all about the characters and the dialogue. Like many of Pagnol's films, most of this one is shot outside "on location" in a small town in Provence. (Don't think Peter Mayle; this is great stuff.) It all looks and sounds and feels so real that you forget you are watching a movie - which, of course, was Pagnol's intent. Yet it is completely unlike what is now called "reality TV." These people are INTERESTING! Quirky, yes, and sometimes very funny, but always very human, without being "feel good" sentimental.

I don't know what it would be like to watch this relying on subtitles. Much of the humor is in the colloquial way the characters speak. But if you can follow it in French, treat yourself. They don't make movies like this anymore, as they say - and in this case, that's a real shame.