Manon des Sources (film)
Encyclopedia
Manon des Sources is a critically acclaimed and commercially successful 1986 French language
film. Based upon the 1966 two-part novel by Marcel Pagnol
, itself an adaptation of an earlier film of the same title by Pagnol, it is the sequel to Jean de Florette
.
near Les Romarins, the farm that her father once owned. She has taken up residence with an elderly Piedmont
ese squatter couple who teach her to live off the land, tending to a herd of goats and hunting for bird
s and rabbit
s. Ugolin Soubeyran has begun a successful business growing carnation
s at Les Romarins with his uncle, César Soubeyran—also known as Papet—thanks to the water provided by the spring
there.
After seeing her bathe nude in the mountains, Ugolin develops an interest in Manon. When he ultimately 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 soon becomes obsessive, culminating in sewing a ribbon from her hair onto his chest. At the same time, Manon becomes interested in Bernard, a handsome and educated schoolteacher who had recently arrived in the village. As a small child, Manon had seen César and Ugolin unblock a spring they had hidden from her father, who died from a blow to the head while using explosives in an attempt to find the water source. César and Ugolin had then bought the farm cheaply from his widow—Manon's mother—and unblocked the spring. Thus they profited directly from his death. When she overhears two villagers talking about it, she 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. She stops the flow of water using the iron-oxide clay and rocks found nearby to take her revenge on both the Soubeyrans and the villagers, who knew but did nothing.
The villagers quickly become desperate for water to feed their crops and run their businesses, and they progressively come to believe that the water flow had been stopped by some untellable Providence to punish the injustice committed against Jean. Manon publicly accuses César and Ugolin, and the villagers progressively admit their own complicity in the persecution of Jean, whom they never accepted and who they felt was unworthy of their trust because he was an outsider and was physically deformed. César tries to explain away his actions 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 the hate in her eyes is clear and the Soubeyrans are forced to flee in disgrace. Rejected by Manon, Ugolin commits suicide
by hanging himself from a tree, thus 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 once more. With the assistance of Bernard, Manon unblocks the spring in advance, and the water arrives at the village at the very moment that the procession reaches the fountain. Manon marries the schoolteacher, Bernard. She is last seen pregnant and leaving a church service on Christmas Eve with her husband, having presumably gone into labor.
Meanwhile, the loss of Ugolin has made César a broken man. Delphine, an old acquaintance of his, returns to the village and tells him that Florette, his then sweetheart, had written to him to tell him she was carrying their child, a child she later tried to abort with potions and self-injury when she received no reply from César. Florette later left the village, married a blacksmith from nearby Créspin, and the child was born alive but a hunchback. César, away on military service in Africa, never received her letter and never knew that Florette had given birth to his child. In a cruel twist of fate, Jean, the man he drove to desperation without ever meeting him, was the son he had always wanted. Devastated, and lacking the will to live any longer, César dies quietly in his sleep. In a letter he leaves his property to his granddaughter Manon, as the last of the Soubeyrans.
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
film. Based upon the 1966 two-part novel by Marcel Pagnol
Marcel Pagnol
Marcel Pagnol was a French novelist, playwright, and filmmaker. In 1946, he became the first filmmaker elected to the Académie Française.-Biography:...
, itself an adaptation of an earlier film of the same title by Pagnol, it is the sequel to Jean de Florette
Jean de Florette
Jean de Florette is a 1986 French historical drama film directed by Claude Berri, based on a novel by Marcel Pagnol. It is part of a duology, and is followed by Manon des Sources. The film takes place in rural Provence, where two local farmers scheme to trick a newcomer out of his newly inherited...
.
Plot
Following the events of Jean de Florette, Manon, the daughter of Jean, is living in the countryside of ProvenceProvence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
near Les Romarins, the farm that her father once owned. She has taken up residence with an elderly Piedmont
Piedmont
Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of...
ese squatter couple who teach her to live off the land, tending to a herd of goats and hunting for bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s and rabbit
Rabbit
Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...
s. Ugolin Soubeyran has begun a successful business growing carnation
Carnation
Dianthus caryophyllus is a species of Dianthus. It is probably native to the Mediterranean region but its exact range is unknown due to extensive cultivation for the last 2,000 years. It is the wild ancestor of the garden carnation.It is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to 80 cm tall...
s at Les Romarins with his uncle, César Soubeyran—also known as Papet—thanks to the water provided by the spring
Spring (hydrosphere)
A spring—also known as a rising or resurgence—is a component of the hydrosphere. Specifically, it is any natural situation where water flows to the surface of the earth from underground...
there.
After seeing her bathe nude in the mountains, Ugolin develops an interest in Manon. When he ultimately 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 soon becomes obsessive, culminating in sewing a ribbon from her hair onto his chest. At the same time, Manon becomes interested in Bernard, a handsome and educated schoolteacher who had recently arrived in the village. As a small child, Manon had seen César and Ugolin unblock a spring they had hidden from her father, who died from a blow to the head while using explosives in an attempt to find the water source. César and Ugolin had then bought the farm cheaply from his widow—Manon's mother—and unblocked the spring. Thus they profited directly from his death. When she overhears two villagers talking about it, she 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
Source (river or stream)
The source or headwaters of a river or stream is the place from which the water in the river or stream originates.-Definition:There is no universally agreed upon definition for determining a stream's source...
of the spring that supplies water to the local farms and village. She stops the flow of water using the iron-oxide clay and rocks found nearby to take her revenge on both the Soubeyrans and the villagers, who knew but did nothing.
The villagers quickly become desperate for water to feed their crops and run their businesses, and they progressively come to believe that the water flow had been stopped by some untellable Providence to punish the injustice committed against Jean. Manon publicly accuses César and Ugolin, and the villagers progressively admit their own complicity in the persecution of Jean, whom they never accepted and who they felt was unworthy of their trust because he was an outsider and was physically deformed. César tries to explain away his actions 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 the hate in her eyes is clear and the Soubeyrans are forced to flee in disgrace. Rejected by Manon, Ugolin commits suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
by hanging himself from a tree, thus 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 once more. With the assistance of Bernard, Manon unblocks the spring in advance, and the water arrives at the village at the very moment that the procession reaches the fountain. Manon marries the schoolteacher, Bernard. She is last seen pregnant and leaving a church service on Christmas Eve with her husband, having presumably gone into labor.
Meanwhile, the loss of Ugolin has made César a broken man. Delphine, an old acquaintance of his, returns to the village and tells him that Florette, his then sweetheart, had written to him to tell him she was carrying their child, a child she later tried to abort with potions and self-injury when she received no reply from César. Florette later left the village, married a blacksmith from nearby Créspin, and the child was born alive but a hunchback. César, away on military service in Africa, never received her letter and never knew that Florette had given birth to his child. In a cruel twist of fate, Jean, the man he drove to desperation without ever meeting him, was the son he had always wanted. Devastated, and lacking the will to live any longer, César dies quietly in his sleep. In a letter he leaves his property to his granddaughter Manon, as the last of the Soubeyrans.
Cast
- Emmanuelle BéartEmmanuelle BéartEmmanuelle Béart is a French film actress, who has appeared in over 50 film and television productions since 1972. Béart won a César Award for Best Supporting Actress in the film Manon des Sources . She has been nominated a further seven times for Most Promising Actress and Best Actress.- Early...
as Manon - Yves MontandYves Montand-Early life:Montand was born Ivo Livi in Monsummano Terme, Italy, the son of poor peasants Giuseppina and Giovanni Livi, a broommaker. Montand's mother was a devout Catholic, while his father held strong Communist beliefs. Because of the Fascist regime in Italy, Montand's family left for France in...
as César Soubeyran/'Le Papet' - Daniel AuteuilDaniel AuteuilDaniel Auteuil is a French film, television and theatre actor.-Early life and education:He was born in Algiers, French Algeria.-Career:...
as Ugolin - Hippolyte GirardotHippolyte GirardotHippolyte Girardot is a French actor.He is not related to the actress Annie Girardot.-Selected filmography:* 1973: La Femme de Jean, directed by Yannick Bellon, Rémi...
as Bernard Olivier - Margarita LozanoMargarita LozanoMargarita Lozano is a Spanish-born actress known for her career in Italian films. She has worked for Luis Buñuel in Viridiana, Sergio Leone in A Fistful of Dollars, Pier Paolo Pasolini in Pigsty, the Taviani brothers in La notte di San Lorenzo, Kaos and Good Morning Babylon; Nanni Moretti in La...
as Baptistine - Yvonne Gamy as Delphine
- Gabriel BacquierGabriel BacquierGabriel Bacquier is a French operatic baritone. One of the leading baritones of the 20th century and particularly associated with the French and Italian repertories, he is considered a fine singing-actor equally at home in dramatic or comic roles.-Life and career:Gabriel Bacquier was born in...
and Eve Brenner as singers at the wedding
Awards
- César Award for Best ActorCésar Award for Best ActorThis is the list of winners and nominees of the César Award for Best Actor .-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:...
- Daniel Auteuil, 1987 - César Award for Best Actress in a Supporting RoleCésar Award for Best Actress in a Supporting RoleList of winners and nominees of the César Award for Best Supporting Actress .-Winners:Adapted from the article , from Wikinfo, licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License....
– Emmanuelle BéartEmmanuelle BéartEmmanuelle Béart is a French film actress, who has appeared in over 50 film and television productions since 1972. Béart won a César Award for Best Supporting Actress in the film Manon des Sources . She has been nominated a further seven times for Most Promising Actress and Best Actress.- Early...
, 1987