Our April LWD Film Club selection is an old favorite of mine, Jean de Florette. I discovered this one at our public library way back when I was homeschooling my teenagers and we watched it together.
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Jean de Florette
The sun-dappled beauty of the Provence countryside belies dark motivations, in the first installment of Claude Berri’s monumental pastoral tragedy. When the naively idealistic tax collector Jean Cadoret (Gérard Depardieu) unexpectedly inherits a family farm, he leaves the city for a new life in the agrarian community where his mother, Florette, grew up—though she moved away decades ago. His neighbors, however, the scheming Ugolin (Daniel Auteuil) and his proud uncle César Soubeyran (Yves Montand), have plotted to divert the flow of water away from Jean’s land. Brought to extraordinary life by acting legends Depardieu, Auteuil, and Montand, Jean de Florette draws viewers into a fully realized vision of 1920s rural France in which the culture clash between modern ideas and the rustic older codes of the country takes a heartbreaking turn.
This lovely film is available to purchase here. Or check your local library!
If you happen to subscribe to The Criterion Channel, it is streaming there. I don’t have a subscription but my son does. If you are into fine films, this is a streaming service to consider.
If you enjoy Jean de Florette, be sure to watch Manon of the Spring, the followup:
Shot simultaneously with Jean de Florette, this second chapter in the epic story of the intersecting fates of the Cadoret and Soubeyran families unfolds ten years after the events of the first film, as Jean Cadoret’s daughter, Manon (Emmanuelle Béart, in a César-winning performance), now a teenage shepherdess, learns of the circumstances that drove her family to ruin—and seeks revenge on those responsible. A stirring portrait of a young woman’s awakening to her own agency, Manon of the Spring brings to a close Claude Berri’s sweeping Marcel Pagnol adaptation with a devastating power that approaches Greek tragedy.
Previous Film Club Selections:
January ~ The Railway Children
February ~ The Diary of Anne Frank
March ~ The Teahouse of the August Moon
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