Manon of the Spring

The second half of Claude Berri's adaptation of Marcel Pagnol, a direct continuation of Jean de Florette and one story with it. In the first film, Papet and his nephew Ugolin caused the death of Jean, the hunchback newcomer, by hiding a spring. Ten years have passed. Jean's daughter Manon has grown up, herds goats in the hills, and learns what was done to her father. She has one means available: she knows where the spring that supplies the whole village rises. The film's strength is not in how the revenge works but in how much the village knew. Everyone knew something and nobody spoke, and that is where the account is settled. A piece of information that emerges at the end changes the first film retrospectively and binds the two into a single tragedy. Yves Montand plays Papet, Daniel Auteuil plays Ugolin and Emmanuelle Béart plays Manon. The two films were an enormous success in France and among the most expensive French productions of the 1980s. Compulsory continuation for anyone who has seen Jean de Florette. Not an entry point for anyone who has not; the film assumes knowledge of the first throughout.