Manon des Sources (aka Manon of the Spring)

Manon des Sources picks up the story a few years after the end of Jean de Florette, when Jean's daughter Manon has grown into a beautiful young woman in the guise of Emmanuelle Béart. Manon, being the country type her father never was, is keen on taking naked swims in the hills. I don't think it's ever mentioned how old she is or how many years have passed, but knowing the French she's probably about 15, so it's a tad creepy... (in the pic here, she's considerably older).

It is during one of her swims that she is chanced upon by the dim-witted Ugolin, played by Daniel Auteuil, reprising his role from the first movie. He immediately decides to court her, and so begins his path towards inevitable disappointment.

This story line is but one of several flowing neatly through the movie. Another includes the discovery by the villagers of just who Jean and his family are, and that the information had been kept from them by Ugolin and Cesar (Yves Montand) for their own benefit. On the subject of the bad guys, once again we are drawn in by multifaceted characters, and as much as you dislike Ugolin in particular for his past actions, you can't help feeling sorry for the poor sap.

It's perhaps true that a lot of loose ends from both parts of the story are tied up a little too neatly, but I liked the circularity of the whole. I think it's imperative to watch both parts, and to watch them in the right order; I couldn't imagine seeing them any other way.

A great movie. Not quite as great as Part 1, but pretty close.

Acting: 16
Story: 16
Direction: 16
Enjoyment: 17
Involvement: 17
Total: 82

Jean de Florette

Jean de Florette is one of those films that I'd long been aware of but had somehow never got around to watching. It tells the story of lawyer Jean who inherits a house and a plot of land in the French countryside. He decides to move there with his family to get away from the city life and start afresh, getting back to basics and living off the land and the fruits of his own labour. He has grand plans.

Unbeknown to him, though, a couple of locals have their own plans for the land, and they block up the spring that irrigates his property, rendering his plans all but useless, in the hopes that he will pack up and go home. But Jean is not easily dissuaded from pursuing his dream. The film tells the tale of Jean's continuing efforts and his interactions with the community at large.

The community is mistrusting of the stranger among them: his being a city lawyer is not the worst of it; he's a hunchback, too, and that means bad luck, plain and simple. Of course, there is another whole load of background stuff that some of the characters know about and others don't, but I don't want to reveal too much here.

The acting in this film is first-class. I know Gérard Depardieu has become something of a cliché over the years, but he puts in a tour de force performance as Jean. And the "bad guys", an uncle-and-nephew duo played to perfection by Yves Montand and Daniel Auteuil respectively, really make your skin crawl as they become more and more vindictive in their plotting.

I had never imagined how beautiful a film this would be -- one of the best I have seen in a long time. It is a rich and moving piece of work that immediately draws you under its spell. And when it ends, you know you have to rush out and grab a copy of the sequel, Manon des Sources, ASAP.

Acting: 16
Story: 17
Direction: 16
Enjoyment: 17
Involvement: 18
Total: 84