Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3566 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-03-27
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Letterboxed, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 116 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
A truly impressive French film destined to become a modern masterpiece, Jean de Florette is an evocative adaptation of the highly regarded French novel. Two 1920's farmers engage in a bitter rivalry as one tries to tend to a plot of land and the other deviously undermines his efforts in order to conceal a valuable spring. The peasant farmer (Gérard Depardieu) who comes to the countryside to tend the land he has inherited is a naive and trusting soul seeking only to provide for his wife and daughter, while his neighbour (Yves Montand) is intent on doing whatever he can to discourage and demoralise the farmer so that he can take the land for himself. This simple tale unfolds in a wrenching fashion to a tragic conclusion, bringing forth questions about human nature and the prevalence and price of greed. Along with its follow-up, Manon des Sources, this film will leave an indelible impression on anyone who sees it. --Robert Lane

Special Features
1.85 Wide Screen
16:9 Wide Screen
DVD 5
French
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Dolby Digital 5.1
Trailer
English

Synopsis
The first of two parts of the classic Marcel Pagnol story set in southeast France in the mid 1920's. A tragic tale of two greedy men who conspire to stop the well of a farm owned by a hunchback city man during a regional drought. Followed by "Manon des Sources."

Customer Reviews

not the book...
Pretty good as a film - but a bit po-faced. Watching it, you'd never guess that the original book is actually very funny.

Wonderful!
I think this sad tale is based on a Moroccan true story of a man from Ain Asserdoun, who found a cave which was the source of a gushing subterranean stream.
He blocked it, and then found a way to start a (religious?) fund to encourage the deity to restore the water. He made a fortune.
Not an exact analogy but I bet that Marcel Pagnol had read of this story.

Engrossing and beautiful
The only problem with this excellent film is that my French is not very good, so that I ended up reading the subtitles rather than listening to the dialogue. Having said this, it is beautifully photographed and very well acted. Gerard Depardieu is perhaps the best known actor, but all the cast are of an equally high standard, so that you end up being interested in the characters, not all of whom are conventionally 'sympathetic.' This is a very different world from any that I have ever lived in, but it is unexpectedly fascinating and leads you on the sequel, Manon des Sources.