Angele

Angèle is a young woman living on a farm in Provence with her father. A man from the city speaks sweetly to her, tricks her and takes her to Marseille. There he sells her. Angèle comes back with a child. Her father will not have her in the house; out of shame he shuts her in the cellar. Saturnin, who works on the farm, and Albin, who comes down from the mountains, try to get her out. The source is Jean Giono's novel Un de Baumugnes. Marcel Pagnol wrote, directed and produced the film himself. It was shot entirely in Provence, on real farms and in the open air, at a time when French cinema still worked largely in the studio. Fernandel plays Saturnin, and it is one of his first substantial parts outside comedy. Orane Demazis is Angèle. Two hours and twenty-five minutes.