Pretty Good

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

As a B Western movie fan, I can't tell you how many films I've seen in which the plot had to do with some villain attempting to secure water rights from a neighboring rancher by hook or by crook. This often included such diabolical deeds as extortion and murder. What I never expected with "Jean de Florette" was for the same idea to be presented in such a compelling and provocative way in a French milieu. The story does have it's villain of course, and I'd have to say that Cesar/Le Papet (Yves Montand) was probably as remorseless as any Western Simon Legree when it came to duplicity and underhandedness. Not only did he airplane spin his neighbor Marius head first into a rock, but thought it might be a good idea to go back and 'finish him off'. His nephew Ugolin (Daniel Auteuil) wasn't much better, but had a subtler way of containing his emotions when the new occupants took possession of the Romarin property. One can do nothing but feel pity toward Jean de Florette (Gérard Depardieu) as he trudges relentlessly day by day to provide the needed water for his crops, as the underhanded tactics of Cesar and Ugolin are kept a secret by the town folk of Aubagne. Driven to desperation, Jean loses his life in a bid to release a potential spring beneath an underground rock shelf, thereby resulting in the eventual transfer of land to the Soubeyrans. What I wasn't expecting was for this picture to finish on an undetermined note with the fate of Jean de Florette's wife and daughter Manon (Ernestine Mazurowna) to be taken up by a sequel. Though I felt inconvenienced at the time, it turns out that the story's conclusion may be even better than the one presented here. For that, one's attention must be directed to "Manon of the Spring". I recommend watching both in succession for the full impact of the story to be realized.

This film shows human beings at their absolute worst, greed driven selves. In this film, a man who is respected in his community, destroys the life of another, better man. He and his son want to be able to access a spring which can be used to water their agricultural products, primarily carnations. When they go to negotiate a deal with the land owner, he abuses them verbally and the end up killing him. Since they don't own the property they locate the spring and block it, hoping to get the new owners to be more cooperative. They never bat an eye over the murder. Soon a hunchbacked relative comes to claim the property. He is played by Gerard Depardieu. He is the epitome of optimism. He has a lovely family. He wants to farm the land and have a modest existence. The problem is the water needed to make the farm work is being held hostage by these two jerks. The literally destroy his life by sidling up to him and trying to get him to sell. The dynamics of the relationship are so well done. The acting is superb. The story is so tragic.

French actor, producer, screenwriter and director Claude Berri's twelfth feature film which he co-wrote with French screenwriter Gérard Brach (1927-2006) is an adaptation of a novel, "L'Eau des Collines - Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources" (1964) by French author, playwright and filmmaker Marcel Pagnol (1895-1974), which was inspired by true events. It was shot on numerous locations in the Vaucluse department of Provence in the southeast of France and is part of a duology which was succeeded by "Manon des Sources" (1986). It tells the story about Ugolin Soubeyran who one summer after having served his time in World War I returns to his home in rural Provence where he is welcomed by his highly revered uncle Cesar Le Papet Soubeyran. Back at his home place in the highlands, Ugolin initiates a planned project which involves growing plants, but soon discovers that he is going to need a water resource to keep his enterprise afloat. He let's Papet in on his new activity and the old man is eager to help his nephew, but his good intentions get's the better of him and leads to fatal consequences. Though having their plan ruined they are dead set on finding a way to gain their obstacle, so when a man from the village named Jean Cadoret moves in to his newly inherited property with his wife Aimèe and their adolescent daughter Manon, the two farmers decides to mislead him.Subtly and acutely directed by French filmmaker Claude Berri (1934-2009) and with it's ardent and naturalistic milieu depictions and efficient narrative structure, this historic period piece, at the time the most expensive French film in French history, draws a throughout engaging portrayal of a kind-hearted and loving husband and father with an urban background who whilst struggling to create a good life for himself and his family in a rural area at the turn of the twentieth century, becomes a victim of deception and prejudice. This mid-1980s co-production between France, Italy and Switzerland, known as part of a movement in France during the 1980s called "heritage cinema" which mainly consisted of costume dramas, has a powerful score by French composer and arranger Jean-Claude Petit, based on Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi's Italian opera "The Force of Destiny" (1862), which reinforces the films pivotal atmosphere.Produced by French producers Pierre Grunstein and Alain Poiré (1917-2000) and notable for it's wonderful production design by production designer Bernard Vézat and cinematography by French director and cinematographer Bruno Nuytten, this character-driven and dialog-driven countryside epic which examines themes like interpersonal relations, greed, faith and the distinctions between human goodness and human cruelty is impelled by the splendid acting performances by French actor and producer Gérard Depardieu, Italian-born French actor and singer Yves Montand (1921-1991) and French actor, director and screenwriter Daniel Auteuil. A remarkably narrated and invariably moving drama which gained, among several other awards, the BAFTA Film Award for Best Film, Best cinematography Bruno Nuytten, Best Adapted Screenplay Claude Berri and Gérard Brach and Best Supporting Actor Daniel Auteuil at the 41st British Academy Film Awards in 1988, the NBR Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Awards in 1987 and the César Award for Best Actor Daniel Auteuil at the 13th César Awards in 1987.

I have many favorites, and this is one of the crème de la crème. This is a visually stunning film more like beautiful photographic montage. It is simple, tragic story well told, unlike many of today's plots - implausibly lame, suffering on a CGI crutch for 85 minutes. The simple story is about enduring truths which have been the mainstay of the Greek classics and Shakespeare: Our human strengths, our failings, our virtues, and our vices. The story may be a fiction, but its kernel is not. It is stories and story telling like this which has kept our rapt attention for four thousand years.First we should understand that this film is only the first half the novel by Marcel Pagnol which would have been too long as a single film, and out of necessity, was shot as two. The second half is titled, Manon of the Spring. Neither film stands alone as satisfactory because, obviously, it would be incomplete, and naturally, is also important that the two halves be viewed in sequence. For a fairly dispassionate précis of the plots, I suggest reading the ones on Wikipedia, so I won't be repetitive here. I also recommend reading the boards for comments and discussions.JdF & MotS were both shot at the same time in 1986 with a budget of $17 million making it/them the biggest budget French films up to that time. JdF grossed $86M worldwide, and of that sum, only $4.9M was from the USA. MotS grossed $56M worldwide, of which only $3.9M was from the USA. In other words, culture films are not a good fit for the American viewing audience, and the gross revenue numbers bear this out. The rest of the world seems to bear out this conclusion.Foreign language films rarely do well in the USA for the simple reason that the vast majority of the viewing audience are unilingual anglophones who do not wish to burden themselves with having to work at "understanding" their entertainment - they wish to merely consume it. If it requires the work of reading subtitles or thought, it becomes unpalatable. This film requires your attention and thought!But to be fair to the US viewers, the subtitles are at times incomplete or inaccurate, and unlike the spoken word, they do not convey the emphasis or importance of certain bits of dialogue well. The plot is woven steadily throughout the film, so the viewers with no understanding at all of the French language are missing essential dialogue, and therefore plot.The bottom line is this: You will either be entranced by these two films and love them, or you will be bored by the first 15 minutes, and you'll translate that into "bad film." If your highest quality level of reading is Marvel comics then I suggest you stay away from this one.However, I recall years ago walking into a video store where this was playing on all the monitors. All the patrons in the store, ranging in age from 5 to 75 years, were standing transfixed watching this film. There was something magical about it!