are JEAN DE FLORETTE/MANON DES SOUCRES all they're cracked up to be?

See also Le chteau de ma Mer e and LaGLoire de mon Pere, (which ought to be italian films really)

yes. def gonna rent these soon

They're pretty good. In order to make the plot gears mesh properly the characters are a bit reductive, but most movie characters are a bit reductive.

Gerard Depardieu has an admittedly tough role to play, but he doesn't quite pull it off. He tilts it a bit too far toward naivety, without giving the character quite enough fire or passion. In the end he seems more simple minded than noble. As you watch, try to project more passion and strength onto him than you are seeing onscreen.

For the shared plot machinery to work most efficiently, it is best to see them in order and and fairly closely spaced. Two successive nights would be just fine. No need to cram them into one marathon showing.

I realized that these two films were staples at my local video store dating back to the eighties. Never rented them b/c of the "Masterpiece Theatre" suspicions.

Anyhow, both arrive courtesy of Netflix tomorrow.

I love this mini-theme about why certain foreign movies were available in the local video store that has carried over from the von Sternberg thread.

The tokenism thing I mentioned there is relevant here.

Exactly. Foreign film tokenism, "Masterpiece Theater" suspicions,.... I'm waiting for the third term in The Triple.

"Ladies Who Lunch" lensing?

total melodrama. so much fun to watch. revisited them both about a month ago.

Yeah, these were good, far as I remember. Not masterpieces but just a good drama. Never saw them on video.

Haha -- I just watched JDF on VHS, in the same edition released to home video in '88. Solid -- the kind of film that wins Best Foreign Film Oscars.

Getting Criterioned

https://www.criterion.com/boxsets/7935-jean-de-florette-manon-of-the-spring-two-films-by-claude-berri

I'm sure they're fine but I'd really recommend the source novels, they're great.

Sources Des Manon Des Sources

Watched and was blown away by these as a teenager, expected to be a disappointment on more recent (like 2013) re-watch but no, still really good.

Wow twenty years later and I still haven't seen them. Maybe now is the time.

So strange to see critical acclaim for these, for one thing they were not produced for the cinema, correct me if I'm wrong. They're also like the blueprint of the half-feel good, half tragic romantic pastoral series that my mother has always loved. They're part of my childhood, but among many other similar harmless French things.

French wikipedia says they had theatrical runs.

I think if you've seen an uptick in critical acclaim that might be due to Pagnol more than Berri - the nouvelle vague dudes hated him and like many cinema du papa types he's gotten rehabilitated in recent years, so these being his novels which aiui he was working on adapting to film himself that might carry some cachet.

my sister was obsessed with these movies when we were kids so i've seen them many times. maybe i should rewatch them now and see how they hold up

watched these a couple of years ago with my parents because they asked if i could put them on for them. that they are the only non-english language films they have ever seen probably speaks to the films crossover appeal as french films for people who don't really like films. anyway, they are bad. and certainly not worth seeking out because of the criterion stamp. only redeeming feature was a kind of perfect comic timing on my dad going "wow... he killed his son" immediately following the very obvious reveal .

daney's criticism, which led to an ugly, homophobic response from berri, more worthwhile than the films: http://sergedaney.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-berri-affair-1-jean-de-florette.html

they were not produced for the cinema, correct me if I'm wrong

they were at the time the most expensive film production ever in france.