Customer Reviews

Manon of the Spring [VHS]

5 star:		(47)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

One of the all time "perfect" movies in so many respects. It ties in all the unresolved issues of Jean de Florette. It portrays humanity in a near all-encompassing microcosm. Evil, good, grey, and all gradations in between in a simple provincial village in France circa who knows when? It's universal. We don't have to trouble ourselves about dates. It could be yesterday. It could have happened a century hence. Consummate film making in every aspect. Cinematography, sweeping. Acting, uniformly brilliant. Direction? Masterful. Script? Not many better. Buy this classic and it's predecessor and prepare to be swept away.
BEK

Oh this is a beautiful film, shot in Provence, with the absolutely lovely Emmanuelle Beart playing Manon of the title role, and her husband Daniel Auteuil playing the opposing lead. Manon de Florette is the grown daughter of JEAN DE FLORETTE. To follow the storyline and understand Manon's actions, you must see part one of this two-part story.

In part two, Manon has become a "shepardess" who lives with her goats on the hillsides in Provence. When we first see her, she garbed in a quaint shepherdess costume Marie Antoinette would have envied, and tinkling through the brushes with her herd. Auteuil, the young cousin of Jean de Florette sees her and realizes he has fallen in love with the adult Manon whom he first met in JEAN DE FLORETTE.

One day, owing to someting Manon does, a handsome stranger comes to the village. Auteuil's chances with the beautiful Manon are dimmed by the arrival of this handsome young man who also falls in love with Manon. Beart is so beautiful it's hard to imagine why all the young men in the village aren't in love with her.

However, other obstacles exist for Auteuil. I cannot say much more without giving away the storyline, but it has to do with an unresolved issue set up in the first part of the story told in the film JEAN DE FLORETTE. Let's just say it has to do with water, thus the title, MANON OF THE SPRING.

JEAN DE FLORETTE and MANON are wonderful films, and although the latter film is the better one, you cannot understand the latter without the former.

Storyline aside, if you love Provence, then these films will appeal to you. It is hard not to feel the sunlight on your cheeks and smell the wild Thyme, Fennel, Rosmary and other herbs growing on the hillsides where Manon and her goats wander.

This is just as good or even better that it predecessor, Jean de Florette (1986). It is amazing how well thought out the story is. Like a Greek tragedy, everything falls into place, everything is accounted for as fate conspires with character to bring about retribution for those who did wrong. We feel sad and sorry for Papet and Ugolin, whose weaknesses and "crimes" are so like our own.

Daniel Auteuil, who plays Ugolin, is a actor with great range and sensitivity. He is unforgettable here as a not-too-bright peasant who suffers an excruciating and hopeless case of unrequited love. And Yves Montand, who plays his uncle is flawless, like an Olivier, as he experiences a very cruel turn of fate. Emmanuelle Béart, who plays Manon, is very beautiful, but she is also strange enough to be believable in an unlikely role as a solitary shepherdess of the hills of Provence.

Claude Berri's direction is so perfectly paced, so full of attention to detail and so unobtrusive and natural that the film just seems to happen without effort. Nothing fancy, just show what needs to be seen, no more. Use no more words than necessary, but all that are necessary. It's almost like magic, how easy it looks. The scene near the end when the blind woman reveals the cruel turn of fate to Papet is exquisite in its simplicity and its effectiveness.

In a sense this movie is a throw back an earlier era in cinema when careful attention to the construction of a character-driven story was the essence of the art.

Both Manon of the Spring 113 minutes running and the first video Jean de Florette 122 minutes should be seen the same day as they are basically Part 1 and Part 2 of a story. Ten years have passed and Manon a beautiful young woman is being wooed from a distance by a frustrated Ugolin. The young woman is seeking revenge for the death of her father. Both takes revolve around stolen water used to raise flowers and. Both movies must be watched without leaving the room because just as you do a piece of the puzzle will be exposed. Emmanuelle Beart is so lush and sensual and fiesty. She holds her own against legendary Yves Montand and Gerard Depardieu. The scenery and passion is something the French do so well. The movie won major international awards. It is subtitled but if you know some French you will soon find yourself not needing to read the subtitles as the words seem to come thru just by the awesome acting. In fact you almost forget you are watching a movie but are actually there.

Now if I could just locate Babette's Feast before I wear the copy I have out I will be truly blessed.

Manon of the Spring is an exquisitely told story that grabs your heart and doesn't let go until the movie ends. To truly appreciate it, you must see the first part, Jean De Florette. In that movie, two greedy neighbors trick and cheat Manon's father, who is a kind and generous man, in order to gain his property, but the cost is even higher than they planned, since the deception also leads to his death. In this sequel, his now-grown daughter learns of the plot which caused the loss of her father, and takes revenge on them. Although you depise those greedy neighbors for what they did to that family, they are not portrayed completely as evildoers, rather as humans with their own flaws and failings. So when Manon's revenge results in more tragic consequences, it really makes you think about the cycle of pain and revenge that people perpetrate against one another. The greedy neighbors suffer harshly for their deeds, and although to a certain extent they deserved it, it is also very sad. There is a message here that "what goes around, comes around", and "you reap what you sow", and that those consequences happen naturally in time, and don't need human intervention to make them happen. This is a movie that will make a permanent impression.

Within my top five favourite films at this point, Manon of the Spring is a conventional, brilliantly acted story of lost romantic longing, revenge, redemption, and forgiveness.

Daniel Auteuil shines as the physically unattractive Ugolin, smitten with hopeless desire for the wild shepherdess Manon (the heavenly Emmanuelle Beart), daughter of the deceased Jean (from Jean de Florette). Their interaction in this pastoral countryside is priceless, especially if you know the back story, the complicated character dynamic between Manon and Ugolin. Manon's subsequent revenge on the entire town has a tragic air to it, because though you know she's justified in her actions, the townsfolk are portrayed in such intimate detail that you will find yourself drawn to them, sympathizing. Much like the peasants of Seven Samurai, you see their folly, but feel for their distress.

Director Claude Berri has the good sense to let the very intense dramatic situations in this story play out in a naturalistic, restrained manner. Instead of bursting out into the proclamatory Jacobean mode, Manon of the Spring lets the tragic moments and points of emotional outburst breathe, instead of drowning them out in tirades of sentimental outburst. The results are simply stunning.

I saw this film before I saw its predecessor, Jean de Florette, and the result was a wonderfully different experience. I recommend trying it out as an experiment -- Manon of the Spring stands on its own as an autonomous piece of superb storytelling, but its reverberations change once you've seen Jean de Florette.

This gorgeous film is the concluding story of Jean de Florette. That the two films aren't boxed together is ridiculous, because although they stand alone, taken together they become an unforgettable film experience and a devastating masterpiece.

In this film, the little daughter of Jean de Florette, who knows what was done to her father and by whom, has grown to become a stunningly beautiful young woman (Emmanuelle Beart). She is a free spirit, a shephardess, and so achingly gorgeous that one of the participants in her father's tragic downfall (Daniel Auteuil) can't help but fall hopelessly in love with her (no mystery there!). That his love is hopeless and will ruin him is just the begining of the reverberations from the sins commited in the first film that will befall the sinners in this concluding second film.

The other is what happens to the character played by Yves Montand. I will not spoil it for you, but what comes back on this cruelly calculating old man is something to behold. Montand capped a wonderful career with his brilliant and nuanced portrayal of this man. The role, which spans both films, is a beautifully deep performance, and you will be surprised by your different emotions about this character. It is a full-range performance, and shouldn't be missed by anyone who loves great acting.

Although each film is complete unto itself, it is together that the full artistry and power of the story is experienced. So if you get one, by all means get the other.

Directed with care and photographed beautifully in the countryside of Provence, this is a visual and emotional treat. A terrific story of human passions, each is a 4 star film, together they are a 5 star masterpiece.

I saw this French film and decided to get it only to be totally surprised that it was so fabulous. I never knew about the movie that preceeded this so I stumbled into this with completely fresh eyes only to discover a film that knocked my socks off.

I don't want to give too much away in this review because being able to view this film as is helps in the newness and discovery of. This storyline takes on so many turns that I found myself sitting glued to the screen.

I am a huge fan of French films and this one totally stole my heart. A must have.

While I loved both movies, Jean de Florette and the sequel Manon of the Spring, I would rate the first of the pair to to have an edge over the second. They are both masterfully done, and you really can't watch just one of them, as they are an inseparable pair, the first movie forming the background for the second, and the second providing the resolution for the first. Without giving up too much of the story, these movies tell a story of greed, "accidental" murder, and resolution with the likes of Greek tragedy--critically and tenderly revealing the mysterious nature of the human heart. Two of the best set of movies ever in my lifetime. My only criticism of the 2nd movie is the weak portrayal of the young woman, which came down to either poor direction or perhaps a poor casting decision. Overall, this flaw can be overlooked, as these two movies will stand as classics for many years to come.

When the french do something well, they do it very very well. This is one of the most moving films I have ever seen, the story of a troubled young woman who struggles to overcome the impact of a terrible crime on her family. Beart, who became a major star due to this film, has never been better or more beautiful. Also, the impact of the crime on the perpetrators is equally profound, a study on guilt and sanity, with Auteuil and Montand acting with equal excellence to Beart. It is a pity that so few films like this are made.

Get it.