Jean de Florette (1987)
In a rural French village, an old man and his only remaining relative cast their covetous eyes on an adjoining vacant property. They need its spring water for growing their flowers, and are dismayed to hear that the man who has inherited it is moving in. They block up the spring and watch as their new neighbour tries to keep his crops watered from wells far afield through the hot summer. Though they see his desperate efforts are breaking his health and his wife and daughter's hearts, they think only of getting the water.
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This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
I saw this film during my foreign film phase. American films had started to become too bland and predictable so I decided to give the foreign ones a shot. Subtitles didn't bother me because I already had a history of viewing flicks like those. When I was a kid, my Chinese grandfather used take us to the Saturday matinees at Ascot Cinema on Eastern Main Road in Sangre Grande where Chinese subtitled imports were playing, so I got used to them."Jean de Florette" stunned me, took me by surprise. At first I thought it, and its sequel, "Manon of the Spring," were going to be the most dreaded of all genres - love stories. They weren't. Everything about this movie was perfect - cinematography, acting, direction, everything. I can't recommended this movie and its sequel enough.
A greedy landowner and his backward nephew conspire to block the only water source for an adjoining property in order to bankrupt the owner and force him to sell.Roger Ebert commented on Berri's exploration of human character, "the feeling that the land is so important the human spirit can be sacrificed to it". Is human character in this sense shaped by the land? Of course. Is it always? Maybe not."Jean de Florette" and "Manon des Sources" have been interpreted as part of a wider trend in the 1980s of so-called 'heritage cinema': period pieces and costume dramas that celebrated the history, culture and landscape of France. And good on them for that.
Having been so blown away by Cyrano De Bergerac, I also watched Jean De Florette, also starring Gerard Depardieu. Jean De Florette is a very different film, but every bit as fantastic. Depardieu is very endearing in a performance that has in his career only been surpassed by Cyrano De Bergerac to me. Yves Montand and Daniel Auteuil are also outstanding as the scheming Soubeyrans. The acting is not Jean De Florette's only good asset. This is an example of a film where everything works. The story is beautifully paced and evocative, the script is witty and very cinematic, the cinematography shimmers, the scenery is breathtaking, the music is lively yet again very understated and the direction does wonderfully in capturing the pace of the seasons changing and Provence's unique atmosphere. All in all, I love this movie just as much as Cyrano De Bergerac, and I am watching Manon of the Spring(and loving it) even as we speak. 10/10 Bethany Cox
This is an epic film(s). (It must really be seen with Manon of the Spring, which is not a sequel but really the second part of the movie.) The photography, music, acting, writing, are top notch. A must see for any film buff. Full of eye and ear candy! It really stirred an emotional response in me, especially at the end. So many great movies flounder at the conclusion. This one delivers!It deals with the themes of family loyalty, miscommunication, love, betrayal, failure, and persistence in the face of catastrophe. But most importantly it deals with almost impossible redemption. This is a great movie to watch with your spouse or partner. It is equally appealing to both men and women and is a great film for a movie date!