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Jean de Florette

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Jean de Florette
Jean de Florette
Directed byClaude Berri
Written byClaude Berri
Gérard Brach
Marcel Pagnol
Produced byPierre Grunstein
Alain Poiré
StarringYves Montand
Gérard Depardieu
Daniel Auteuil
CinematographyBruno Nuytten
Edited byNoëlle Boisson
Sophie Coussein
Hervé de Luze
Jeanne Kef
Arlette Langmann
Corinne Lazare
Catherine Serris
Music byJean-Claude Petit
Giuseppe Verdi
Distributed byOrion Pictures (USA)
Release dates
France August 27, 1986
United States 26 June, 1987 (NYC only)
Running time
120 min.
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench
Budget$17,000,000

Jean de Florette is a 1986 French historical drama film directed by Claude Berri, based on a novel by Marcel Pagnol. It is part of a duology, and serves as a prequel to Manon des Sources. The film takes place in rural Provence, where two local farmers scheme to trick a newcomer out of his newly inherited property. The movie starred three of France's most prominent actors – Gérard Depardieu, Daniel Auteuil, who won a BAFTA award for his effort, and Yves Montand in one of the last roles before his death.

The movie was shot, together with Manon des Sources, over a period of seven months. At the time the most expensive French movie ever made, it was a great commercial and critical success, both domestically and internationally, and was nominated to eight César awards, and ten BAFTAs. In the long term the films did much to promote the region of Provence as a tourist destination.

Synopsis

The story takes place in a small village in Provence, in Occitania, the south of France, shortly after the First World War. Ugolin Soubeyran (Auteuil) returns early in the morning from his military service, and wakes up his uncle César– known as 'Le Papet' (Montand). Ugolin stays only briefly to talk, as he is eager to get to his own place further up in the mountains. Here he throws himself in a project that– at first– he keeps secret from Papet. He eventually reveals that the project consists in growing carnations. Papet is at first sceptical, but he is convinced by the high price the flowers get at the local market. They decide the project is worthy of expansion, and together they go to see the local farmer Pique-Bouffigue, to buy his land. The land in question is apparently "dry", but Papet knows of a source of water, a spring, that can solve that problem. The neighbour does not want to sell, and an altercation breaks out when he insults the Soubeyran family. In the fight Pique-Bouffigue is killed, but rather than feeling remorse Papet sees this as an opportunity. After the funeral, they dig out the rubble that is blocking the spring, plug the hole and cover it with cement and then earth. Unknown to them, they are seen blocking the spring by a poacher inside the house.

The property descends to the dead man's sister, Florette de Berengere, a childhood friend of Papet; who married the blacksmith in another village, Crespin, whilst Papet was recovering in a military Hospital in Africa. He writes to Grafignette– a common friend– for news on Florette, and finds that she died the same day his letter arrived. The property thereby descends to her son Jean, who is a tax collector and "unfortunately, by God's will...he's a hunchback". To discourage the new owner from taking up residence, Ugolin breaks many tiles on the roof of the residence.

Florette's son (Depardieu) arrives with his wife Aimee and young daughter Manon, and the Soubeyran's hopes of an easy take-over are soon shattered. The new owner is called Jean Cadoret, but Ugolin, in the local custom, calls him Jean de Florette. Jean makes it clear that he has no intention of selling, but plans to take up residence and live off the land. He has a grand scheme for making the farm profitable within two years, involving breeding rabbits and feeding them off cucurbit. Jean does not know about the nearby source, but he knows of another, more distant source; and the house has a cistern that can supply some water for irrigating crops. The distant source, 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) away, where an old Italian couple live, is also part of the property, and Jean believes the needs of the farm can be met from here. Ugolin is discouraged, but Papet tells him to befriend Jean and gain his confidence. They also keep secret from him the fact that– while average rainfall for the surrounding region is sustainable– the area where Florette's farm lies rarely gets any of this rain. Meanwhile, the two work to turn the sentiments of the local community against the newcomer, who is described merely as a former tax collector from Crespin, as the deceased Pique-Bouffigue has distant cousins living in the village who remember the spring.

Jean initially makes progress, and earns a small profit from his rabbit farm. In the long run, however, getting water proves a problem, and dragging it all the way from the distant source becomes a backbreaking experience. Jean asks to borrow Ugolin's mule, but is met only with vague excuses. Then, when the rain does come, it falls on the surrounding area but not where it is needed. Jean loudly berates God, who he thinks has already given him enough trouble by making him a hunchback. Later, the dusty winds of the Sirocco also arrive, bringing the farm to near-catastrophe. Jean, however, is undeterred, and decides to dig a well. At this point Ugolin sees it fitting to try and convince Jean that his project is hopeless, and that he might be better off selling. Jean asks how much he could expect to receive for the farm, and Ugolin gives an estimate of around 8,000 francs. Jean has no intention of leaving though, but wants to use the value of the property to take up a mortgage of half that sum. Ugolin is not happy, but Papet again sees opportunity: he will himself grant the mortgage; that way he will either earn the interest, or drive Jean away for good. From the money Jean buys dynamite to finish the well, but an accident occurs, and he is hit by a rock. At first the injuries seem minor, but it turns out the rock fractured his spine, and when the doctor arrives he declares Jean dead. Ugolin returns with the news to Papet, who asks him why he's crying. "It is not me who's crying," he responds, "it's my eyes."

Aimee and Manon are now forced to leave the farm, and Papet offers to buy them out. As the mother and daughter are packing their belongings, Papet and Ugolin make their way to where they blocked the spring, to pull out the plug. Manon has followed them, and as she sees what the two are doing, and understands the connection, she gives out a shriek. The men hear it, but quickly dismiss the sound as that of a buzzard making a kill. As Papet performs a mock baptism of his nephew in the cold water of the spring, the movie ends with the caption "end of part one".

Cast

  • Yves Montand as César Soubeyran / 'Le Papet': In the local dialect 'Papet' is an affectionate term for 'grandfather'.[1] César is the proud patriarch of a dying family, and his only known relative is his nephew Ugolin. Eager to restore his family's position, he manipulates his nephew to do his bidding.[2] For Yves Montand the filming experience was particularly trying because his wife of thirty-three years, Simone Signoret, died during filming.[3] Montand himself died in 1991, and the two films were among the last of a cinematic career spanning forty-five years.[4] Having grown up in nearby Marseilles, he visited the location before filming started, and endeared himself with the locals.[3]
  • Daniel Auteuil as Ugolin: Ugolin is César's "rat-faced sub-intelligent nephew".[5] Somewhat more conscientious than his uncle, he is nevertheless persuaded to carry through with the diabolical plan.[1] For the role, Auteuil used a prosthetic nose to make the character look uglier.[6] The role represented a great change for Auteuil. He had previously tended to play "smart, funny, urban hipster types", and the role as Ugolin – which earned him both a BAFTA and a César – was a great step forward in his career.[1]
  • Gérard Depardieu as Jean de Florette: Florette is a city man with an romantic idea of the countryside, yet obstinate and hard-working.[1] Actor Depardieu was well established as a versatile actor even before this role.[6] Seemingly impervious to the great pressure on the film crew, Depardieu earned a reputation on the set for "fooling about, telling jokes, swearing at planes interrupting the shot and never knowing his lines until the camera was rolling".[3]
  • Elisabeth Depardieu as Aimee Cadoret: Jean's beautiful wife is a former opera singer, who has named her daughter after her favorite role, Manon Lescaut.[6] Aimee was played by Gerard Depardieu's real-life wife, Elisabeth.[5]

Production

File:Jean Ugolin.jpg
Ugolin helps Jean draw water from the well, and by helping him gives him a false sense of friendship. In the background can be seen the Provençal landscape, central to the movie.

Marcel Pagnol's 1953 movie Manon des sources was four hours long, and subsequently cut by its distributor. The end result left Pagnol dissatisfied, and led him to retell the story as a novel.[7][5] The first part of the novel, titled Jean de Florette, was an exploration of the background for the movie; a prequel of sorts. Together the two volumes made up the work Pagnol called L'Eau des collines (The Water of the Hills).[1] Berri came across Pagnol's book by chance in a hotel room, and was captivated by it. He decided that in order to do the story justice it had to be made in two parts.[1]

Jean de Florette was filmed in the Vaucluse region of Provence, where a number of different places have been mentioned as filming locations.[8] La Treille was the village where Pagnol had filmed the original movie, but this place had undergone too extensive modernisation since the 1950s, so Barri had to find alternatives.[1] For the village of the story he settled on nearby Mirabeau, while Jean de Florette's house is located in Vaugines, where the church from the movie can also be found.[3] The market scenes were shot in Sommières, and the story's Les Romarins was in reality Riboux.[7]

Extensive work was put into creating a genuine and historically correct atmosphere for the film. The façades of the houses of Mirabeau had to be replaced with painted polystyrene, to make them look older, and all electric wires were put underground.[3] Meanwhile, in Vaugines, Berri planted a dozen olive trees twelve months before filming started, and watered them throughout the waiting period, and for the second instalment planted 10,000 carnations on the farm.[1]

Jean de Florette and Manon des sources were filmed together, over a period of thirty weeks, from May to December 1985. This allowed Berri to show the dramatic seasonal changes of the Provençal landscape.[7] At $17 million, it was at the time the most expensive film project in French history.[5] The long filming period and the constantly increasing cost put a great burden on the actors, many of whom frequently had to return to Paris for television or theatre work.[3] Once completed, the release of the movie was a great national event. A special promotional screening before the film's official release 27 August 1986, was attended by then Minister of Culture Jack Lang.[7]

Reception

The movie was a great success in its native France, where it was seen by over seven million people.[9] Also internationally it performed very well; in the United States it grossed nearly five million dollars, making it number fifty-five among the most commercially successful foreign language movies ever in the U.S.[10]

Critical reception for Jean de Florette was almost universally positive. Rotten Tomatoes reports 100% positive reviews, based on 17 different reviewers, with an average rating of 8/10.[11] Rita Kempley, writing for The Washington Post, compared the story to the fiction of William Faulkner. Allowing that it could indeed be "a definitive French masterwork", she reserved judgement until after the premier of the second part, as Jean de Florette was only a "half-movie", "a long, methodic buildup, a pedantically paced tease".[6] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times commented on Berri's exploration of human character, "the feeling that the land is so important the human spirit can be sacrificed to it". Ebert gave the movie three and a half out of four stars.[12]

The staff reviewer for the entertainment magazine Variety highlighted – as other reviewers did as well – the cinematography of Bruno Nuytten (an effort that won Nuytten a BAFTA award and a César nomination).[13] The reviewer commended Berri particularly for the work done with the small cast, and for his decision to stay true to Pagnol's original story.[5] Richard Bernstein, reviewing the film for The New York Times, wrote it was "like no other film you've seen in recent years". He called it an updated, faster-paced version of Pagnol, where the original was still recognisable.[1] The newspaper lists the film among the "Best 1000 Movies Ever Made".[14] More recent reviews show that the film has stood up to the passage of time. Tasha Robinson, reviewing the DVD release of the two films for The A.V. Club in 2007, called the landscape, as portrayed by Berri and Nuytten, "almost unbearably beautiful". Grading the movies 'A', she called the movies "surprisingly tight and limber" for a four-hour film cycle.[2]

Nominated for a total of eight César awards in 1987 – including 'Best Film', 'Best Director' and 'Best Cinematography' – Jean de Florette won only one, 'Best Actor' for Daniel Auteuil.[15] At the BAFTA awards the next year it fared better, winning awards for 'Best Actor in a Supporting Role' (Auteuil), 'Best Cinematography', 'Best Film' and 'Best Adapted Screenplay'. The film also earned six more nominations, including both Depardieu and Montand in the 'Best Actor'-category, as well as 'Best Direction' and 'Best Foreign Language Film'.[16] Among other honours for the movie were a U.S. National Board of Review award for 'Best Foreign Language Film', and a 'Best Foreign Language Film' nomination at the 1988 Golden Globes.[17]

Legacy

Jack Lang, central to the 1980s revival of French cinema.

Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources have been interpreted as part of a wider trend in the 1980s of so-called 'heritage cinema': period pieces and costume dramas that celebrated the history, culture and landscape of France. It was the official policy of President François Mitterrand, elected in 1981, and particularly his Minister of Culture Jack Lang, to promote these kinds of films through increased funding of the ailing French movie industry. Berri's pair of movies stand as the most prominent example of this effort.[18][7] It has also been suggested that the treatment given the outsider Jean de Florette by the locals was symbolic of the growing popularity of the anti-immigration movement, led by politicians like Jean-Marie Le Pen.[7]

The two films are often seen in conjunction with Peter Mayle's book A Year in Provence, as causing increased interest in, and tourism to, the region of Provence, particularly among the British.[19] The movies inspired a vision of the area as a place of rural authenticity, and were followed by an increase in British homeownership in southern France.[20] As late as 2005, the owners of the house belonging to Jean de Florette in the movie were still troubled by tourists trespassing on their property.[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Bernstein, Richard (1987-06-21). "Film; France's savoury tale of fate". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-07-27.
  2. ^ a b Robinson, Tasha (2007-08-08). "Jean De Florette / Manon Of The Spring". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2008-07-29.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Falconer, Kieran (2005-08-08). "The landscape of Manon des Sources". The Times. Retrieved 2008-07-27.
  4. ^ "Yves Montand". IMDb. Retrieved 2008-07-29.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Jean de Florette". Variety. 1986-01-01. Retrieved 2008-07-27.
  6. ^ a b c d Kempley, Rita (1987-07-24). "Jean de Florette (NR)". Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-07-29.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Powrie, Phil (2006). The Cinema of France. Wallflower Press. pp. pp. 185-94. ISBN 1904764460. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  8. ^ "Filming locations for Jean de Florette (1986)". IMDb. Retrieved 2008-07-27.
  9. ^ "Box office / business for Jean de Florette (1986)". IMDb. Retrieved 2008-07-29.
  10. ^ "Jean de Florette". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2008-07-29.
  11. ^ "Jean de Florette (1987)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2008-07-29.
  12. ^ Ebert, Roger (1987-08-07). "Jean de Florette". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2008-07-29.
  13. ^ "Awards for Bruno Nuytten". IMDb. Retrieved 2008-07-29.
  14. ^ "The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-07-29.
  15. ^ "1987 - 12ème Cérémonie des César" (in French). Académie des César. Retrieved 2008-07-29.
  16. ^ "1987". British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Retrieved 2008-07-29.
  17. ^ "Awards for Jean de Florette (1986)". IMDb. Retrieved 2008-07-29.
  18. ^ Hayward, Susan (2005). French National Cinema. Routledge. pp. pp. 300-1. ISBN 041530783X. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  19. ^ "Jean de Florette (PG) ****". Daily Echo. 2003-02-07. Retrieved 2008-07-29.
  20. ^ Crouch, David (2005). The Media and the Tourist Imagination: Converging Cultures. Routledge. pp. pp. 144-7. ISBN 0415326265. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
Preceded by BAFTA Award for Best Film
1988 		Succeeded by
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