Product: Manon of the Spring (1987)
Rating: 4.0
A Light Operetta, Part II.
Now a young beauty, Manon sets her self into a quest for revenge against those ones that killed his beloved and charming father, Jean Cadoret. Alone and proud, Manon is a shepherdess running free in the countryside, surviving and avoiding anyone and everyone that dismissed her father for no other sin than just being a foreigner. And so, in one hot summer day, Ugolin falls in love at first sight with the naked beauty of Manon. Chance will turn into the girl's path, to reveal the truth about his father's death, she vows anger and silence into her intentions, and again, chance will provide Manon with the exact and necessary means to revenge her unbearable loss. The whole town will be set into despair, and Papet and Ugolin will find each other in the terrible and cruel ways of the destiny they themselves forge, Cesar will face the dead of his name, and Ugolin, the sadness of a love not meant to be, at the end, they will beg for a miracle, and Manon will find true love inside her quest. Arise.Claude Berri re-prices the landscapes, atmospheres and people from Marcel Pagnol's regarded novel (The Water of the Hill), into a sequel very much worthy of it's predecessor (Jean De Florette), an achievement in it's own right. Bravo.Captivating and honest, Manon of the Spring is pure and true simple revenge, a classical tale of redemption through vengeance, compelling the simplicity and much worth braveness of one single and justified deed, from there to peace of mind. This time Claude Berri paints with the same brush, different emotions in the same protagonist, the slow breaking point of not knowing what else can you do to save yourself, down on your knees, she will only give pardon because of his love, indeed, destiny has the last laugh.Again, the cast enters a passionate and intricate work. Ives Montand, portraits Papet with the same accurate eye, only this time, sadness and sorrow are added to the spectrum, and Papet is revealed in his human ways. The amazing Daniel Auteuil gives despair and tragic sense to Ugolin, the result stands in a emotive evolution of the character. Now, we get to see the little girl that was Manon in Jean De Florette, grown up to be breathtaking beauty, French actress Emmanuelle Beart, portraits the young shepherdess with dedicated understanding of such a bucolic soul, a keen and grooving performance, like a wood nymph (her nude dance scene is an absolute delicatessen), the supporting cast stands firm. The comparison with Jean De Florette hurts a little in Manon's script and in some parts of the direction. The screenplay is actually a fine piece of work, but there are some scenes where the development of important events are carried with some easiness along with a pace that doesn't quite fits the rhythm of the story. This little problem could have been emended in the DVD edition with extra footage, but it seems Claude Berri is quite happy with the original Cut, anyway Manon of the Spring succeeds by an exquisite continuation of a simple but humanly complex story, resulting into a piece of inner strength. Jean Claude-Petit limited himself to re-arrange the same music motifs that appeared in Jean De Florette, nothing more or new.This DVD version has the same audio and visual transferring of Jean De Florette (Widescreen Letterbox Edition 2:35.1, with Dolby Digital 2.0) , a good edition of its feature, again, a new and improved version can do more justice to this beautiful film, but the DVD is good enough to see it without any real problems.So, this is the final chapter of The Water of the Hill story, a portrayal of intolerance and love is what the whole story is about, and little in Cinema History, such topics had been shown with so much conviction, you recollect what you harvested in your own past, and laments have come to late to make a change.