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4.0 out of 5 stars
"FRENCH FLORAL FOLLIES", July 28, 2001
By A Customer
Sounds like a musical? Nope, Pagnol ["Fanny" trilogy, and those wonderful perspectives about his father and mother] had a way of looking deeply into your soul, finding the longing, showing you what could be, and taking it away .......It's the harmonica music [TOOTS THIELEMAN] that always stays with you, brings back the memories of standing on one of the dry hills, smelling the hot pine needles on the night air - all of that sensory [stuff]! For the romantic? Daniel Auteuil's face, THAT face of utter despair. The population? There's Yves Montand as the stoic, dessicated old uncle/landowner, a bitter, vitriolic, poisoned person. An underrated artist. Auteuil, as the nephew, returns from WWI with those perfect carnations, and the cycle begins ..... Gerard Depardieu,now the unassuming giant of French Cinema, a worthy successor to Jean Gabin, moves in next door as the hunchback farmer-neighbor. [His then real wife, Elizabeth plays the spouse, even son Guillaume is present in a minor role]. An epic of greed and frustration - it deserves to be held high for the absolute reflection of consequences it presents. Like a delicate souffle, slightly burnt, almost bland, with an odd bitter aftertaste it surprises you with a deep heartburn of the soul. A work about loneliness, and loss giving a fragment of hope and satisfaction at the end. Beautifully photographed on location, Claude Berri's work well deserves to be seen over and over again. It's for those moments when you feel bad about life - and need a little cheer! Companions: The original "Fanny" Trilogy [different, but soulmates].
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