Product: Manon of the Spring (1987)
Rating: 5.0
The continuing saga, greed, deception, lust, destruction, etc. etc.
If you happen to plan to view Manon of the Spring, do yourself a favor and seeJean De Florettefirst. It is the beginning of this family saga of greed, destruction, evil, hope, deceit. Claude Berri is a writer, producer, actor and director. His best work is the two films in part one and part two.Jean de Florette is the story of a hunchback man who has inherited land with a home for his wife and daughter. Unbeknownst to him, a greedy landowner and his nephew have engineered a plan to block access to the water for his farming. Tormented by the two, Florette is driven to devastating consequences.Manon of the Spring continues 10 years later landowner Soubeyran has asked his only relative Ugolin to find a wife in that Soubeyran can leave his inheritance. Ugolin has his eye on Florette the hunchback's beautiful daughter Manon, a sheepherder. But her mission is to seek revenge against Ugolin and his uncle Soubeyran for the torment that lead to demise of her father's farm with devastating consequences. In turn, she cuts of the water supply to the entire village which leads to very angry townspeople. The two men are publicly accused and also, Ugolin can't bear Manon's rejection.This film is with beautiful mountainous scenery, brilliant acting, period costumes, and moves at an even pace. It is engrossing with an important revelation nearing the end. The double films have won numerous awards. This is a wonderful saga and you can view the DVDs separately or togetherJean De Florette / Manon of the Spring (MGM World Films)! ...Rizzo.