El manantial de las colinas

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

I was 10 when my parents rented this and it's sequel the first time. They tried to make me watch it, but I refused. Subtitled movies are for cultured people was my thoughts at the time. I came down a few hours later when they had just started Manon De Sources. Emanuelle Beart had just started playing harmonica. If you've seen this then you'll know why I was instantly captivated. Before I realized what was happening I was caught up in the tale. For many years I have remembered the film, and meant to see it again, it made such an impression on me. I finally saw them again today, and they were magnificent.

I watched them both, one after the other. The scenery is spectacular, and the story is so spellbinding that time will fly. I am usually an action junkie, but these films just appealed to me as no other ever has.

Even if you hate subtitles I guarantee that you will love this film, and an hour later you'll remember the characters speaking in English. No matter how tough you are, if your heart doesn't break for Jean, then it never will.

Jean de Florette is a magnificently acted, superb film with fine music and excellent cinematography. The colors used are vibrant and the red carnations are a stunning adjunct of the movie. Its sequel, Manon of the Spring, is even better, and its dramatic ending is quite well written and enacted. Together, these two films are amongst the finest to come from France.

This is a marvel of story-telling. Rarely have I felt so much pain for a fictional character. The "force of destiny" (great sound track motif selection!) is nowhere as evidently crushing as in this movie. I'm astounded and stunned by the beauty of human suffering, not, of course, out of sadism but out of melancholy. Great, great movie (though the Southern French accent is very hard to understand).

In the French countryside, the farmer Cesar Soubeyran (Yves Montand) welcomes his grandson Ugolin (Daniel Auteuil) in his property that intends to plant carnation in the land, but they need a spring of water to cultivate the flowers. Cesar decides to buy the land of his lazy neighbor Martial that has a spring; however, they argue and fight and Cesar accidentally kills him. The nephew Jean Cadoret (Gerard Depardieu) that is a townsman and former fiscal inherits the real estate and moves with his wife Aimee (Elisabeth Depardieu) and his daughter Manon (Ernestine Mazurowna) with intention of living in the farm, cropping and raise rabbits based on readings. Cesar and Ugolin block and seal the spring with cement and Cesar asks Ugolin to get closer to Jean to sabotage his work. Jean, who is called Jean de Florette by the locals, slowly spends all his savings and inheritance and sacrifices his family to get water in a distant spring while the hypocrite Ugolin jeopardizes his efforts pretending to be his friend.

"Jean de Florette" is a heartbreaking epic of greediness and cruelty. I bought this VHS many years ago and only today I have watched this masterpiece of the French cinema (I have no words to tell how much I regret this). The impressive saga of Jean Cadoret a.k.a. Jean de Florette is engaging and supported by a magnificent story and awesome performances, highlighting Daniel Auteuil, Yves Montand and Gerard Depardieu. The characters are very well developed and Daniel Auteuil is impressive in the role of the contradictory character Ugolin. The scene when he tells to his grandfather that he is not crying but his eyes, is fantastic. Jean de Florette somehow recalled me the unforgettable Jean Valjean of "The Miserables", and his saga shows how unfair and cruel a human being can be. Tomorrow I will see the sequel "Manon des Sources". My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Jean de Florette"