Manon des Sources

Dir: Claude Berri

1986

*****

Released a couple of months after Jean de Florette, Manon des Sources was in fact shot back-to-back with the first film. In 1953, Marcel Pagnol wrote and made his film Manon des Sources but it was four hours long and subsequently cut by its distributor. This left Pagnol dissatisfied, and led him to retell the story as a novel. The first part of the novel, titled Jean de Florette, was an exploration of the background for the film; a prequel of sorts. Together the two volumes made up the work Pagnol called L'Eau des collines (The Water of the Hills). Many years later, Claude Berri came across Pagnol's book by chance in a hotel room, and was captivated by it. He decided that in order to do the story justice it had to be made in two parts and after the huge success of the first film, they took a bit of time before releasing the second, but not too long. Both films collectively were seen as 'heritage cinema' pieces that had been pushed by the then French President François Mitterrand and particularly his Minister of Culture Jack Lang. This was to help promote these kinds of films through increased funding of the ailing French film industry. Berri's films almost did it single-handedly. The films and Peter Mayle's book A Year in Provence (which was published in 1989) saw an increase in British home ownership in southern France, indeed, I holidayed quite a bit around there at the time and still do to this day. Some have said that the treatment given the outsider Jean de Florette by the locals was symbolic of the growing popularity of the anti-immigration movement, led by politicians like Jean-Marie Le Pen. I don’t know how true that is but I sort of hope it was, because as beautiful as Provence is, and as much as I love it, there is still a high level of racism and bigotry. Following the events of Jean de Florette a few years later, Manon, the daughter of Jean now all grown up, is living in the countryside of Provence near Les Romarins, the farm that her father once owned. She has taken up residence with an elderly Piedmontese squatter couple who teach her to live off the land, tending to a herd of goats and hunting for birds and rabbits. Ugolin, has begun a successful business growing carnations at Les Romarins with his uncle Papet - thanks to the water provided by the spring there that they kept secret for so long. After seeing her bathe nude in the mountains (in a scene that got many a young man into French film back in the late 80s), Ugolin develops an interest in Manon. When he approaches her, she seems disgusted by his vileness and almost certainly by the memory of his involvement in her father's downfall. But Ugolin's interest in Manon becomes obsessive, culminating in sewing a ribbon from her hair through his nipple. It’s fair to say that the sequel takes on a very different tone from the first but I’ve always thought this scene quite clever, very French in its similarities to Van Gogh cutting off his own ear, something he did just down the road from where the film is set. Unfortunately for Ugolin, Manon becomes interested in Bernard, a handsome and educated schoolteacher recently arrived in the village. As a small child, Manon had suffered the loss of her father, who died from a blow to the head while using explosives in an attempt to find the water source. César and Ugolin then bought the farm cheaply from his widow, Manon's mother, and unblocked the spring. Manon witnessed this as a child. The two men profited directly from his death. When she overhears two villagers talking about it, Manon realises that many in the village knew of the crime but had remained silent, for the Soubeyran family was locally important. While searching for a goat that fell into a crevice above the village, Manon finds the underground source of the spring that supplies water to the local farms and village. It’s a heartbreaking scene. To take her revenge on both the Soubeyrans and the villagers, who knew but did nothing, she stops the flow of water using the iron-oxide clay and rocks found nearby. The villagers quickly become desperate for water to feed their crops and run their businesses. They come to believe that the water flow had been stopped by some Providence to punish the injustice committed against Jean. Manon publicly accuses César and Ugolin, and the villagers admit their own complicity in the persecution of Jean. They had never accepted him, as he was an outsider and was physically deformed. César tries to evade the accusations, but an eye-witness, a poacher who was trespassing on the vacant property at the time, steps forward to confirm the crime, shaming both César and Ugolin. Ugolin makes a desperate attempt to ask Manon for her hand in marriage, but she rejects him. The Soubeyrans flee in disgrace. Rejected by Manon, Ugolin commits suicide by hanging himself from a tree, apparently ending the Soubeyran line. The villagers appeal to Manon to take part in a religious procession to the village's fountain, hoping that acknowledging the injustice will restore the flow of water to the village. With the assistance of Bernard, Manon unblocks the spring in advance, and the water arrives at the village at the moment that the procession reaches the fountain. Meanwhile, César has been broken by his nephew's suicide. Delphine, an old acquaintance of his, returns to the village and tells him a secret, the film’s last and devastating twist. The film touches just about every emotion but its sadness prevails. It’s incredibly beautiful, poetic and poignant that it is still remembered today as one of France’s greatest modern classics.