Manon of the Spring (1986)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Manon of the Spring (1986) – C. Berri

The sequel (or really the second part) to Jean de Florette (1986) picks up the action maybe 9 or 10 years later, when Daniel Auteuil’s intellectually impaired flower farmer has taken over Depardieu’s land and, with the benefit of the now-unplugged spring, is doing reasonably well.  Depardieu’s daughter, played now by Emanuelle Beart, is a goatherd who keeps her distance from the town, although she does catch the eye of the new teacher, as well as the eye of Auteuil.  Yves Montand, perhaps the only character who we can “read” (because his thoughts are deeper and he reveals them in his speech), is still standing back orchestrating his nephew Auteuil’s life, encouraging him to pursue Beart to keep his family name alive.  At first, I felt that this second part was merely a retread, with Beart now turning the tables on Montand and Auteuil and the villagers by stopping up their water supply.  The countryside was still gorgeous and the village life of the 1920’s (or thereabouts?) still rustic and authentically portrayed (as far as one can tell).  But when the plot takes a sudden twist (or two), the results now seem Shakespearean or at least fabulistic, adding gravitas which had been absent until then.  Seen in combination, the two parts do work although one wonders whether, with judicious editing, they might fit together as one long single film; that said, I gladly took two shorter sessions.  Now, I think I might try to track down the Pagnol originals (of which these were remakes).