César

A fitting finale to Marcel Pagnol's touching Marseilles trilogy (perhaps the strongest part of them all), this wise and witty heart-warmer offers more of the writer-director's wonderful dialogue, particularly in the lightly satirical immensely funny opening sequence.

Still, there's enough room for musings on family, friendship and the sacrifices life demands. The cast is top-notch, with Raimu as brilliant as ever, while Fresnay delivers an electrifying speech towards the end.

Some may find the whole affair too slight, contrived and emotionally charged, but trust me, these three pics are definitely worth six hours of anyone's life... at least, anyone who loves good storytelling.

8 out of 10 hilarious deathbed confessions

The above mentioned movie is the final part of a 3 part series of which Maurius and Fanny were the predecessors. Out of the 3, I like this one the best. One, the very good actor, Raimu gets to step out of the background and take the lead. Two, it wraps up all the pieces that have been set up in the previous movies, as the major theme of life goes on, and destiny must not be avoided, despite of silly human follies of pride, societal scorn and by-law morals. A charming family movie, all at once, an unsentimental love story sporadically. Raimu delivers monologues here that define the character and the nature of the others. Also, I must the add, the son of Fanny and Maurius is very well played. Pagnol must be applauded for bringing his hit play to the screen. A musical movie was made in the sixties starring Leslie Caron which put all three plays into one movie titled Fanny. I remember as being sporadically entertaining with its deep sets and lush technicolor. But this is the one to watch. Pagnol use of outdoor sets is invigorating for early sound cinema and his camera is an unobtrusive detailer and watcher. A fine movie forgotten but worth remembering.

All the three films in Marcel Pagnol's Marseille trilogy ('Marius', 'Fanny' and 'Cesar') are well worth watching, personally would go as far as calling them must sees. All three are wonderful in their own way, though all the great things about the trilogy and what makes it special are present in each film. To me, they are important films in regard to French cinema and early talkie film-making and are a few of the finest examples of somebody with theatrical origins moving into film and became important.

'Cesar', the only one of the Marseille trilogy to not be directly based on the play, is the third and final film in the trilogy and a great way to end it. It is not quite as good as my personal favourite 'Marius', but is on the same level as 'Fanny' for generally the same reasons. Despite having occasional story problems, 'Cesar' (named after one of my favourite characters of the trilogy) is the most human, most understated and most moving of the three perhaps and benefits greatly from having Pagnol in the director's chair again and the original cast returning yet again.

It though does have the slightest story of the three films in the trilogy and the only one to feel slightly contrived on occasions. That is my only complaint though.

Like 'Marius' and 'Fanny', 'Cesar' looks lovely and surprisingly evocative. In fact all the great things of those two films are here, for the same and different reasons. Scotto returns as composer and his score is equally as whimsical and charming. Did appreciate that 'Cesar' did have a much better beginning than that of 'Fanny' and that it got to the point much quicker.

There is some nice wit in the writing, the dialogue can be described in the same way as the dialogue in the previous two films. It succeeds in the humorous elements and even more so the emotional moments, balancing both well while having more of the latter. Did love how understated and compassionate the story was.

Which added to the poignancy and humanity of one of the most easy to root for love stories in early talkies. The characters are still compellingly real and their situations are still relatable and relevant now, did find that what happens resonated with me. Pagnol's direction is never too static or theatrical, he stays true to his roots while opening up the drama enough so it does feel cinematic.

Fanny is slightly underdeveloped again, but again that is namely down to the deeper characterisations of the other characters. Especially Cesar. The acting is great again, especially Raimu giving perhaps his best performance of the trilogy and he was astounding in 'Marius' and 'Fanny' as well.

Concluding, great and a more than worthy end to a wonderful trilogy of films. 9/10

Having had the good fortune to live a portion of my life in Marseilles, I still get a frisson of nostalgia for the city every time I see the films in this trilogy. The way of life in Marseille has obviously modernised over the 7 decades since they were filmed, but the underlying generosity of spirit and joie de vivre is still there. Marseilles is to Provence and its bourgeois pretensions as London is to its satellite and suburbs: squalid, frenetic and crime-ridden, but nonetheless magnetic. The people of Marseilles still possess the same uniqueness of character that they did back then. A mixture of Italian, Corsican, Maghrebin and French, blended in a huge and historically important trading port. The largest Foreign Legion barracks was (and I believe, still is) in Marseille, ready to be unleashed on the subjects of the French African colonies at a moment's notice.

The port is still (albeit much less so) a smuggler's paradise, and the social life of the city is still centred around good food, good love, and strong drink. Pagnol and Raimu knew the city well, and gave it the starring role in the trilogy. Imagine their joy at being able to relocate a stage play to the Mediterranean coast and use genuine atmospheric exteriors of the old port in all its pre-war glory. The city, and particularly the docks, took a real beating from both sides in WW2, so Pagnol not only created a few masterpieces of cinema, but also an invaluable document of a lost architecture and layout.

The nonsense between L'Academie and Pagnol was related to the prevailing Parisian view of southerners as being crude, unsophisticated people who lived a simple life of manual labour, procreation, drinking and eating (cul terreux). The view from the south that still prevails, is one of a Paris riddled with snobbish elites (peigne cul) totally divorced from the realities of healthy living . The wonderful climate and diet of the Mediterranean coast has long been a source of envy for those condemned by fate to dwell in the damp root vegetable fogs of northern France. Pagnol was gleefully rubbing their noses in it.

Pagnol opened up a lot of avenues in film, but the people of Marseilles remember him mostly for his authentic capturing of la vie quotidienne. I'll drink to that.

This could actually be the best part of the trilogy. It is directed by the author Marcel Pagnol himself, which you can feel, for you get closer to the characters here than in the previous two. It is not Jean Renoir, it is not René Clair, but it is genuine, and like in the two previous parts, the acting is absolutely outstanding, while the one who takes the price is Pierre Fresnay. In the first film he dominates the entire show, in the second he is like an intruder, but here, when he finally re-enters the stage at last, he is just magnificent in all his extremely shifting moods between deep resentment and arduous love that never dies. He finally brings the ship home.