Manon de Source
+ Jean de Florette
Dir: Claude Berri
Star: Daneil Auteuil, Yves Montand, Gerald Depardieu, Emmanuelle Beart
Note the
careful, and quite deliberate reversing of the order: Jean de Florette is first, and it's important to see it first, but for my money, Manon is where it all comes together. Together, they're the story of a father-and-son due of scheming French farmers, who drive a rookie neighbour (Gerard Depardieu) into the grave by blocking up the water supply. However, a decade later, his victim's daughter (Beart), now an elfin shepherdess in the hills begins to extract her revenge.
At almost four hours long, these are a long, slow burn, like a devastatingly hot summer's day. The films build slowly; though Jean can stand on its own, it is only in conjunction with its sequel that the whole terrible grandeur of the story unfolds. It's got the air of a Thomas Hardy novel - Berri was one of the producers of Tess - thanks to the pastoral setting and the harshly realistic depiction of rural life and the emotions therein. The performances are great: Montand and Auteuil as the father and son bestride both movies, while Depardieu and Beart shine out in their halves. All this, plus full-frontal nudity and self-mutilation in a 'PG' movie - if one word serves to sum up these two films, it's "schadenfreude", the joy of watching someone else's pain. For by the end of Manon, you've watched one man's life get ripped apart by his greed, and boy,
does it feel good.
A+
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