Manon des sources (1986)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Claude Berri

Writers:

Claude Berri (adaptation)
Gérard Brach (adaptation)

Release Date:

December 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

A beautiful but shy shepherdess plots vengeance on the men whose greedy conspiracy to acquire her her father's land caused his death years earlier.

Plot Keywords:

Spring | Shepherdess | Water | Revenge | Rural

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 4 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Yves Montand	...	Cesar Soubeyran dit Le Papet
Daniel Auteuil	...	Ugolin
Emmanuelle Béart	...	Manon (as Emmanuelle Beart)
Hippolyte Girardot	...	Bernard Olivier
Margarita Lozano	...	Baptistine
Yvonne Gamy	...	Delphine
Ticky Holgado	...	Le Spécialiste (as Tiki Olgado)
Jean Bouchaud	...	Le Curé
Elisabeth Depardieu	...	Aimee Cadoret
Gabriel Bacquier	...	Victor
Armand Meffre	...	Philoxène
André Dupon	...	Pamphile, le menuisier
Pierre Nougaro	...	Casimir
Jean Maurel	...	Anglade
Roger Souza	...	Ange, le fontainier

Also Known As:

Jean de Florette II
Manon delle sorgenti (Italy)
Manon des sources: Jean de Florette 2e partie (France) (poster title)
Manon of the Spring (USA)

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

Italy | France | Switzerland

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Netherlands:AL | Singapore:NC-16 | West Germany:16 | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Chile:TE | Finland:S | Norway:12 | Sweden:7 | UK:PG | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Ansouis, Vaucluse, France

Company:

DD Productions

Trivia:

During the procession, the crowd sings. in Provencal language, a song dedicated to Saint Gens, a very popular local saint, who people pray to bring rain.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When three goats are climbing on the rocks, you can clearly see someone waving a pine branch behind them, probably to force them to move.

Quotes:

Cesar Soubeyran: He's such a bigot he might confess other people's sins.

Movie Connections:

Version of Manon des sources (1953)

A great film

This is just as good or even better that it predecessor, Jean de Florette (1986). It is amazing how well thought out the story is. Like a Greek tragedy, everything falls into place, everything is accounted for as fate conspires with character to bring about retribution for those who did wrong. We feel sad and sorry for Papet and Ugolin, whose weaknesses and "crimes" are so like our own.

Daniel Auteuil, who plays Ugolin, is a actor with great range and sensitivity. He is unforgettable here as a not-too-bright peasant who suffers an excruciating and hopeless case of unrequited love. And Yves Montand, who plays his uncle is flawless, like an Olivier, as he experiences a very cruel turn of fate. Emmanuelle Béart, who plays Manon, is very beautiful, but she is also strange enough to be believable in an unlikely role as a solitary shepherdess of the hills of Provence.

Claude Berri's direction is so perfectly paced, so full of attention to detail and so unobtrusive and natural that the film just seems to happen without effort. Nothing fancy, just show what needs to be seen, no more. Use no more words than necessary, but all that are necessary. It's almost like magic, how easy it looks. The scene near the end when the blind woman reveals the cruel turn of fate to Papet is exquisite in its simplicity and its effectiveness.

In a sense this movie is a throw back an earlier era in cinema when careful attention to the construction of a character-driven story was the essence of the art.