Product: Manon of the Spring (1987)
Rating: 5.0
John du Prey - Classical Review
Passion should be felt, revenge observed with detached honesty, as within this exceptional film (directed by Claude Berri). Watched Manon of the Spring (Manon des sources) while reading Ovid's Art of Love (Ars Amatoria). My first question was: Are the director and screenwriter treating the themes of love (turned to hate), passion (turned to vengeance), and intimacy (turned to venom) with artistically-inclined disregard (aplenty) or with delicacy (afresh)? These are not themes to be trifled with; some regard for virtue must be maintained for the woman when men have plotted with cunning against her beloved father. Now we come to the major themes at work within this story (based on the novel L'eau des Collines by Marcel Pagnol).Poetic justice must prevail or the intricately-layered crescendo of the storyline will falter and burn without attaining its proper denouement. One asks: Does the heroine (Manon, played exquisitely by Emmanuelle Beart) deserve a romantic treatment as a tragic heroine, who falls from grace and redeems herself in time? or Do we observe a deliberate re-fashioning of the traditional feminine model of virtue, where the woman goes astray because men have driven her to act with subtle resolve. In either case, Manon would be a tragic figure, who deserves our sympathy even as we empathize with her character throughout her deadly planning. Innocence was lost, then regained through poetic justice; that would be the premise.We come again to the stream of vengeance, where some women (perhaps without knowing it) become deadly over time, poco a poco. The tension wire, now real within the plotline, stretches into the heart of the film. We observe Manon's deliberate seduction of her neighbor (the focus of her revenge); she is the shepherd, he is the wolf. Her innocence draws us further into the act (itself); her nudity draws her victim to his eventual death. Through demure seduction, the noose is pulled tighter. Manon's hate, a deep well overflowing with years of plotting, reminds us that once her trap is set, there is no turning back; she has sealed one man's destiny to equal the score. The full cunning (dramatic irony) of our heroine is not exposed until the truth about her father is revealed to Ugolin (played brilliantly by Daniel Auteuil). His suicide completes her act of retribution. Her pregnancy redeems her spirit, like a fresh mountain spring. The stream has now changed from vengeance to the life within her womb. Manon can now grow into maturity; her heart has been set free of malice and hate.