This film double-pack is absolutely amazing. When my wife picked it out one day I hadn’t even heard of either film, but I’m glad she had. The first film is very good and the second is absolutely incredible! Even though I’m not generally all that keen on watching subtitled films, I loved every minute of these and can honestly say that I have never felt as completely absorbed in a movie as in the last few scenes of Manon des sources (Manon of the Spring).

In Jean De Florette, set in Provence (as is the sequel), a shrewd elderly farmer called Cesar Soubeyran (Yves Montand) has his eye on an adjacent farm owned by an unfortunately (if that’s the right word) recently deceased neighbour. He thinks everything’s going to plan but then finds out that the farm has been bought by a young hunchback from the city. He hides the essential spring in the farmland and does everything in his power to hinder the young hunchback (Jean Cadoret - Gerard Depardieu), while appearing to be an extremely friendly and helpful neighbour. He is aided in this by his slightly simple (but less evil) nephew, Ugolin (Daniel Auteuil). Life is tough as the local community make it clear that this city boy with his new-fangled farming methods is very unwelcome in their town. Jean continues to struggle against the odds to make his farm work with his wife Aimee (played by his then real-life wife, Elisabeth Depardieu) and young daughter Manon (Ernestine Mazurowna).

The film makes you really sympathise with the Cadoret family (Jean plans to earn much of his money selling flowers, thus earning himself the nickname “Jean de Florette”), while despising Cesar particularly. It is a compelling drama with some superb performances, with Gerard Depardieu, Yves Montand and Daniel Auteuil being truly exceptional. As with the second film it has a superb music score by Jean-Claude Petit. Overall a terrific film. However, it pales in comparison to its sequel…

Jean De Florette has a tragic ending that leaves a bitter taste in the mouth (I’ll try not to give away the ending though you may work it out anyway). With Cesar having wrought several works of evil around his greedy avarice, the Cadoret family are in ruin and despair. Aimee wants to move away but Manon, now grown up into an incredibly beautiful woman who spends most of her time herding goats and roaming the landscape, doesn’t want to move. Some of the villagers are getting pangs of conscience as they realise they share Cesar’s guilt - they knew what he was up to but did nothing to help the newcomers. Various events unfold the convince the local preacher and most of the town’s population that God’s fury is being vented on them for their terrible burden of guilt.

During all of this Ugolin falls in love with Manon, who after finding out what he and his uncle have done, hates him. She also finds a way to plot a revenge for the tragedies faced by her families… There are plenty of shocking revelations in store, for more than one of the characters and certainly for the viewers. This is one film that grabs your heart right at the beginning and never lets go - watching this was an incredibly intense experience. The only real think that you could say against it is that it wouldn’t make much sense if you haven’t seen Jean de Florette. If you get the chance, watch them back to back - that would make an amazing movie experience (which would take a touch under 4 hours without a break - Jean de Florette lasts 120 minutes and Manon de Sources lasts 113 minutes).

Both are rated PG, though in Manon de Sources there are some quite disturbing scenes - Ungolin isn’t quite right in the head and his unrequited love for Manon makes him act very extremely - and there is one brief, rather surreal scene where Manon dances around in the nude while playing the panpipes. Emmanuelle Beart plays the grown-up Manon, and imbues her not only with great beauty but a sense of someone completely set apart from the rest of society, someone who has isolated herself as a self-defence mechanism, with great strength and fragility at the same time. She puts in a very good performance - but then, there isn’t a bad performance in sight. The acting is almost as breathtaking as the plot twists, and Claude Berri’s direction is straightforward but incredibly powerful.

Overall, I can’t recommend this DVD set highly enough - two superb films that together are greater than the films individually. Even if you don’t normally care about movies, I’m sure that Jean De Florette / Manon de Sources will have you spellbound.




This film had me re-writing my Top Ten Movies of All Time list...

Gerard Dep also starredwith Anide McDowell in Green Card.

It was also a very, very late entry to Barbara's All Things French Write Off.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD