Review of Jean De Florette

Introduction

Ugolin comes home from the army with a plan, but it`s a secret and he won`t tell his uncle César what he`s up to. A couple of weeks later however, and all is revealed. He shows his uncle the beautiful red carnations and it`s quite a sight. He harvests the flowers and sells them for a decent price, but just think what kind of money he could make in a year from a whole field of carnations! A whole field needs a good and continual water supply, something Ugolin doesn`t have access to. The old man, Marius, in the next farm might be willing to sell access to his spring though, so Ugolin and César go and ask.

Marius isn`t interested in selling. Unfortunately he dies and leaves his farm to his sister, Florette. Eagerly César writes to her to ask if she`d be interested in selling the farm, but she passes away leaving all to her son, Jean. Frustration sets in and César and Ugolin set about with a scheming plan to get that farm, or at least get that natural spring. When they`re sure no one is around, they trespass on the farm to block up the spring, they cover up their tracks and leave.

Gerard Depardieu plays Jean, a tax collector from the city who inherits this farm in Provence. He`s a man with big ideas and lots of `How to` manuals to see the family through the times ahead. It doesn`t matter that he`s never farmed in his life before, but it`s something new to try, and he`s very determined to make a go of things. This natural spring is the essential key to the successful farming of the land. Unbeknownst to Jean the spring`s been blocked up and he struggles on innocently in vain trying to do his best.

Ugolin and César continue to sabotage Jean`s farming efforts with dire consequences, driving his family to a tragic end.

Video

This was made in 1986, a mere 16 years ago and there`s little damage to the source print used for this DVD. The 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer remains clear, well balanced and detailed. Bruno Nuytten`s photography is captivating with a lot of life present in shot. The locations set for the 1920s Provence countryside are easy to fall in love with. It all looks very good.

Audio

There`s nothing special here, just a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. The film is a dialogue driven film with plenty here to keep you occupied; it`s clear and without hiss or distortion. The score by Jean-Claude Petit too is very good and ticks over nicely, adding to the mood of the film.

Features

Static menus with nice backdrops with just English subtitles and a trailer. The subtitles are player generated and are well produced, easy to read. Unfortunately there`s nothing else on this disc. No bios, no production notes...

Conclusion

It`s sometimes difficult to sit down to watch a subtitled movie, especially when it`s not in your native language. Jean de Florette has subtitles and it`s almost two hours long, but once started you`ll find that it`s not as daunting as first thought.

Jean de Florette is the first part of Claude Berri and Gerard Brach`s adapation of Marcel Pagnol`s book. Berri and Brach continued the story too in the follow up, Manon des Sources. So watch both films to get the maximum effect. The story outlined here is very simple to grasp with the all too familiar themes of innocence, greed and envy tied in with life-like characters. There`s no disbelief to suspend, no special effects that are fantastical or out of place, just a good old fashioned yarn about a family that wants to make good, and some greedy, envious neighbours that will stop at nothing to carry out their subtle, yet nefarious plans. It`s not all doom and gloom though because along the way we do get some very subtle humour thrown in.

Add to this the wonderful photography and the film just moves along with a nice and steady pace. There doesn`t seem to be anything wasted here and it`s just so easy on the eye that you`ll carry on watching it. I know this is how I felt and it`s easy to see why this film is hailed as a classic.

I was entranced from the moment I first watched the film unfold. The use of Verdi`s "La Force du Destin" opening music is now synonymous with Stella Artois and I tried very hard to resist the allure of a cold pint while watching the film. It was sorely tempting though...anyway, from the familiar opening music I was hooked. The character performances here from Gerard Depardieu (Jean), Yves Montand (César) and Daniel Auteuil (Ugolin) are nothing short of amazing. Add to this a good supporting cast and it all works so well together. I`m sure there are lots of little French nuances that I missed from reading the subtitles alone, but I got close to getting a lot from the story. It`s a simple tale, but told extraordinarily well.

I became more interested in foreign language films as a result of some of the dull stuff coming out of Hollywood. I`d been to see Attack of the Clones and thought it dire, so I sought solace in something different and came across Jean de Florette. I`m sure I`m not the only one though, so I would say that if you`re willing to branch out a little and try something different, give this DVD a spin. Get the region 2 version as this has an anamorphic transfer over the non-anamorphic region 1 disc (and get the follow up, Manon des Sources as well). Good value for money, very appealing and heartily recommended.