Jean de Florette (1986)

Okay, you have to give a lot of the credit to Pagnol for the book, but this to me is one of the best movies ever made. - A classic, simple story, beautiful location beautifully filmed, and a triumvirate of marvellous actors in Depardieu, Auteuil and Montand.

• I saw this again a few days ago and enjoyed very minute. - Is it really true I have to submit at least ten lines? This is a new rule, right? Shouldn't you warn people before they start writing?

Fmovies: In the French countryside, the farmer Cesar Soubeyran (Yves Montand) welcomes his grandson Ugolin (Daniel Auteuil) in his property that intends to plant carnation in the land, but they need a spring of water to cultivate the flowers. Cesar decides to buy the land of his lazy neighbor Martial that has a spring; however, they argue and fight and Cesar accidentally kills him. The nephew Jean Cadoret (Gerard Depardieu) that is a townsman and former fiscal inherits the real estate and moves with his wife Aimee (Elisabeth Depardieu) and his daughter Manon (Ernestine Mazurowna) with intention of living in the farm, cropping and raise rabbits based on readings. Cesar and Ugolin block and seal the spring with cement and Cesar asks Ugolin to get closer to Jean to sabotage his work. Jean, who is called Jean de Florette by the locals, slowly spends all his savings and inheritance and sacrifices his family to get water in a distant spring while the hypocrite Ugolin jeopardizes his efforts pretending to be his friend.

"Jean de Florette" is a heartbreaking epic of greediness and cruelty. I bought this VHS many years ago and only today I have watched this masterpiece of the French cinema (I have no words to tell how much I regret this). The impressive saga of Jean Cadoret a.k.a. Jean de Florette is engaging and supported by a magnificent story and awesome performances, highlighting Daniel Auteuil, Yves Montand and Gerard Depardieu. The characters are very well developed and Daniel Auteuil is impressive in the role of the contradictory character Ugolin. The scene when he tells to his grandfather that he is not crying but his eyes, is fantastic. Jean de Florette somehow recalled me the unforgettable Jean Valjean of "The Miserables", and his saga shows how unfair and cruel a human being can be. Tomorrow I will see the sequel "Manon des Sources". My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Jean de Florette"

The story starts of pretty simple. Ugolin (wonderfully portrayed by Daniel Auteuil) has returned to his home, after serving in the army. He now wants to devote his life planting nelliks. His friend and old "mentor" Papet (powerfull done by Yves Montad) see that without water (which is scarce in the area) he will fail. He helps him with money, and get him to buy land from his nabour, which has a very good water source. But he wont sell. Without spoiling to much, he dies. His land goes over to his sister, who dies shortly after. The land is inherited by her rather naive son, Jean de Florette (Gerard Depardieu, who gives the most impressive acting) a man of the city, he dreams of living of the land, farming what he needs, and selling rabbits. He moves there with his daugther and wife. Ugolin and Papet is then devoted to driving him down, so they can buy the land. They cover the water source.

The film is beautifully shot, the area looks wonderful. Also, the score is absolutely marvelous, making the film throughly exquisite. A good thing, the film is not overwhelmed by this beauty. It is strongly concentrated around telling the story, about the up and downfalls of the family, who strive to survive. Also portrays humans as decivefull and evil. Ugolin's envy of the land Jean owns, is a strong theme in the film, together with mans battle to survive. I have not seen the second part, but I really look forward to it. Jean de Florette is a great film in all ways, and I recommend it to anyone. This is one of the few "must see" films out there.

Jean de Florette fmovies. I really enjoyed this movie and was worried the sequel, Manon of the Spring would be a letdown--so often, sequels just can't compare to the originals. However, I say watch this movie so you can really enjoy just how wonderful the sequel is! So my advice is to see this film and then rush out and see the follow-up film.

Considering that this film is from a script by the great Marcel Pagnol (who was responsible for many of the best French films), it's not at all surprising that this is a wonderful film. It's a sad and despicable story about greed. A man (Yves Montand) concocts a scheme to ruin an innocent man (Gérard Depardieu) and his family in order to force them off the land. It's even worse because the man and his family are so decent and deserve better. However, despite this being morally wrong, this plan was created because Montand wanted this land to remain in his family and be passed on to his descendants. Nice scheme, huh? The acting, writing, cinematography and pacing are superb--so good that I was EAGER to find the sequel. So, watch this movie and understand it only gets better in part 2!

Marcel Pagnol was rightly admitted into the Acadamie Francaise, just about the highest honor a French writer can receive. No less a major force than Orson Welles described Pagnol's own movie 'La Femme du Boulanger' (The Baker's Wife) as the greatest movie ever made. For someone with a limited canvas - Provence, its small hamlets, the port of Marseilles, and the people who lived there - he sure extracted the maximum mileage. Jean de Florette and its sequel Manon des Source has now arguably become the highest profile of all Pagnol's work eclipsing even the great trilogy 'Marius', 'Cesar' and 'Fanny' featuring the great Raimu, and his two autobiographical works My Father's Glory and My Mother's Castle. It is very gratifying for someone with a healthy streak of cynicism in their makeup to read such glowing tributes to this movie. If French cinema NEEDED an ambassador, which it doesn't, then these two titles - shot back to back as Montand's wife, Simone Signoret, lay dying - could not be bettered. To add any superlatives to those already posted here would be superfluous so just let me say that Montand is at the top of his game and that is saying something. Superb entertainment with terrific ensemble playing. An all-time great. 11/10

Jean de Florette is a magnificently acted, superb film with fine music and excellent cinematography. The colors used are vibrant and the red carnations are a stunning adjunct of the movie. Its sequel, Manon of the Spring, is even better, and its dramatic ending is quite well written and enacted. Together, these two films are amongst the finest to come from France.