Product: Jean de Florette (1987)
Rating: 5.0
What Goes Around.....Comes Around.
This beautifully filmed and acted masterpiece must be seen with its companion film and conclusion of the story, Manon of the Springs, to be fully appreciated. Although each film stands on its own, it is the full story that they, combined, tell that makes the experience of the film so profound. It is a crime that they are not offered together.The story of greed and deception, of cruel avarice leading to tragic consequences, is further enhanced in the terrible irony and effect of mistakes and devastating secrets revealed in the second film. However, this film is complete in telling the first part of the story as we watch a kind and humane man, albeit naive, the Jean of the title (Depardieu) undone by two neighbors (Montand & Autielle) who covet his farmland. Jean's desperation and anguish as he struggles to keep his dream alive is achingly conveyed by Depardieu in a brilliant performance.The two films also gave that old master, Yves Montand, one last magnificent role to cap his career. He is simply wonderful as a shrewd and coldly calculating patriarch, his lazily sly eyes bitterly amused by his manuevers, setting in motion events that will reverberate and return to him in ways he could not possibly fathom. It is so rich and full a performance, that spans both films, that you will be surprised by your different emotions about this man. Montand's work here should not be missed by anyone who loves great acting. He is ably matched by Daniel Autielle as his torn, sad, and conflicted nephew.Directed with great care and beautifully filmed in the countryside of southern France, Jean de Florette is a fine film by itself. But, when seen with Manon of the Springs, the two together make a masterpiece of the consequences of cruelty and greed.Let's hope they get Manon on DVD and box them together. 4 stars each, 5 together.