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Jean de Florette / Manon of the Spring



A sprawling tale of greed, betrayal, and revenge plays out amid the bucolic splendor of the French countryside in Claude Berri's masterly two-film adaptation of a literary work by the legendary Marcel Pagnol. Spanning three generations in the lives of two families, Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring vividly recreate the provincial world of an early-twentieth-century village, where an outsider's arrival sets in motion a devastating chain of events. With gorgeous cinematography, keen insights into human nature, and superb performances from icons of French cinema (Gérard Depardieu, Yves Montand, Daniel Auteuil, and Emmanuelle Béart), these richly absorbing moral tales—at the time of their production, the most expensive French films ever made—are triumphs of epic storytelling in the classical tradition.

Special Features

• New 4K digital restorations, supervised by director of photography Bruno Nuytten, with 5.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtracks
• In the 4K UHD edition: Two 4K UHD discs of the films and two Blu-rays with the films and special features
• Claude Berri: The Card Dealer (2018), a documentary on director Claude Berri's life and career
• The Force of Destiny (2017), a documentary about the making of the films
• Trailers
• New English subtitle translations
• PLUS: An essay by film scholar Sue Harris

Some recent discussion of the films from myself and knives in the 1986 List thread

I was somewhat hoping for this to get paired with the original film, but this is an utterly delightful package for a very good set of films.

Is this Auteuil’s first Criterion appearance?

No, he’s on Cache and Varda’s Mr. Cinema

Criterion hasn't released Cache

swo17 wrote: Wed Jan 15, 2025 5:48 pm Criterion hasn't released Cache

Not yet.

Whoops, genuinely thought they did. Guess they need to do that too.

He’s an enormous figure in modern French cinema, it really shows how beholden Criterion is to only releasing certain recent French films. Interestingly, he went on to direct and star in his own adaptations of Marius and Fanny— would have been nice if they could have had him sit down to discuss his relationship with Pagnol

knives wrote: Wed Jan 15, 2025 5:49 pm Whoops, genuinely thought they did. Guess they need to do that too.

as someone who doesn't like Haneke but likes that movie, I wholeheartedly agree. they got his other titles out with no issue but are still holding on that one!

I haven't seen the Berri films but may try and sneak them in before round 2 of voting in our list project. this edition looks fantastic, and is the highlight of the month

I am curious. Sounds like a mystery revenge thriller.

Elizabeth Corday wrote: Wed Jan 15, 2025 6:02 pm I am curious. Sounds like a mystery revenge thriller.

The main plot is the smallest part of the films’ pleasures. The environment and air are the best part of them. It’s like taking a refreshing walk in a National park while stalked by a bear.

A masterpiece with endless rewatchability quality.

JabbaTheSlut wrote: Wed Jan 15, 2025 6:32 pm A masterpiece with endless rewatchability quality.

Yes, they make for a great contrasting pair too with the dark first film focusing on the naive hunchbacked father having his dreams of relocating his family to the countryside for a new life being relentlessly ground down by failure, leaving him railing at God whilst not recognising that his neighbours may also have something something to do with why his crops aren't thriving (I saw Jean de Florette a long time before The Devil & Daniel Webster/All That Money Can Buy and Berri's film is very similar to the first act of that film stretched to feature length). Then the second film Manon of the Spring (being a double meaning of the coming of new life after a long cruel Winter, and of the source of life sustaining water) is the 'revenge' of the next 'beautiful' generation (in contrast to the crippled, in body and soul, father) who comes back to seduce and destroy the parties who had a hand in destroying her father's hopes and dreams. Whether that is by active design or something more along the lines of fate (or a divine power) belatedly restoring justice to the world is the key question there.

Its also the film series that the Stella Artois beer adverts used the iconic score from in their "Reassuringly expensive" series about the cruelly costly trials of rural French life, going from relatively straightforward, to a classic ad directed by Jonathan Glazer and starring Denis Lavant!

I spent four nights finishing the double-bill and the experience is very positive. Normally dividing up a film over multiple days doesn't work for me but curiously this one went smoothly, probably because the films themselves were already divided in the middle. It gives me a feeling of watching a well produced mini-series.

I agree with Domino's assessment of the two parts referenced a few posts above, except that I didn't check out in the second film. I kept thinking about the first one when watching the second, though. I am sort of curious, therefore, about the experience from people who accidentally stepped into the second part first and watched the whole thing backwards, as that was the original order the stories were created. And when I consider the first part a bit more in the nature of a prequel, I cannot help but draw a connection to the prequels for the Star Wars trilogy. I admit this is probably far-fetched but I do see some parallels here. Lucas' original films were too on the classical side, while the prequels offer a modernistic depiction of a young hero being slowly manipulated into a tool for other people with egotistic motivations. I wonder what went through Pagnol's mind when he fleshed out the background story in the form of a prequel novel in the 60s. It seems both auteurs chose to concern with modern social, political ideas in the prequels. By giving an ostensibly bad (and mad) guy a detailed past, on the good life he was leading, they instead examine the society as a milieu that turns a generally good person vicious, like a drought naturally drives off water. Though Depardieu's performance as a man slowly devolved into madness and self-destruction is heart-breaking to watch, I still see the prequel's center character as Ugolin, who is constantly tortured by conflicting ideas, good in nature but feeble in dealing with an overpowering force that is 'looking out for him'. His famous line at his good neighbor's death feels like the emotional center of the film, alluding to the state that he is now in: a inhumane tool, with deeply inhibited and denied humane feelings.