Jean de Florette

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Jean de Florette ★★★½ 1987 (PG)

The first of two films (with “Manon of the Spring”) based on Marcel Pagnol's novel. A single spring in drought-ridden Provence, France is blocked by two scheming countrymen (Montand and Auteuil). They await the imminent failure of the farm nearby, inherited by a city-born hunchback, whose chances for survival fade without water for his crops. A devastating story with a heartrending performance by Depardieu as the hunchback. Lauded and awarded; in French with English subtitles. 122m/C VHS, DVD . FR Gerard Depardieu, Yves Montand, Daniel Auteuil, Elisabeth Depardieu, Ernestine Mazurowna, Margarita Lozano, Armand Meffre; D: Claude Berri; W: Claude Berri, Gerard Brach; C: Bruno Nuytten; M: Jean-Claude Petit. British Acad. ‘87: Adapt. Screenplay, Film, Support. Actor (Auteuil); Cesar ‘87: Actor (Auteuil), Support. Actress (Beart).