Crésus

Fernandel is a poor shepherd. Days he tends to his flock. Nights, he makes a simple meal of eggs and bread and looks at catalogues. Some nights he puts a lamp in the window and Marcelle Ranson-Hervé comes to spend the night. One day he finds what he thinks is a bomb. He tries to blow it up from a safe distance. He punches a hole in it and discovers a lot of money. He's not sure how much it is, so he goes to the old schoolmarm. "Thirty zeroes". Her explanation confuses him. He goes to the priest. It's too much money. He goes to a couple of banks, but he's not sure the money will fit.

After a quarter century of having his novels turned into movies -- like THE BAKER'S WIFE -- Jean Giono tried his hand at directing one. With a cast headed by Fernandel, acting was pretty well sorted away. According to some reports, he hired Claude Pinoteau, as a "technical advisor." With Roger Hubert as his cinematographer, he had the technical end of shooting down, and this simple fable of what happens when more money than people can imagine shows up is a very pleasant fable.

Although Jean Giono's books have often be transferred to the screen ("La Femme Du Boulanger" by Pagnol and "Le Hussard Sur Le Toit" by Jean-Paul Rappeneau for instance) ,this is the only movie directed by the writer himself.So it was only natural that he chose Fernandel who had often portrayed his characters in the past .Fernandel's fans might be disappointed though,for the movie is not exactly what a fan expects ."Cresus" is not really a comedy ,it 's not a drama either.For once in my life,I think that the Cahiers Du Cinema were right when they wrote that the movie was something different,something unseen yet.Marcel Pagnol meets the Nouvelle Vague could describe this work,filmed on location,with no real action :in the first part,the lead is most of the time alone ,which makes sense for this shepherd is some kind of outcast,whose misanthropy is obvious.The moral of this story is "money can't buy happiness or love " (see the last scene)but it does not seem very convincing for today' s audience.

More than Jules' s feast,the movie is mainly memorable for Sylvie the schoolteacher's arithmetic lesson when the hero learns that 0000000=0 and it takes an 1 if you want something .