JEAN DE FLORETTE ❘ FRANCE ON FILM


The hilltop village of Ansouis in the Luberon, where filming


took place; inset, the cast of Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources


swelling into a swirlingly romantic soundscape. The bus then continues on through an empty, Provençal-style village before coming to a halt in open countryside to allow its single passenger to disembark. As he does so, we see that he is a somewhat mysterious young man sporting a large, black beret, and a cape of the same colour slung over his slim frame. He is also carrying a small suitcase. We follow him as the light breaks further and he climbs a slope amidst the arid, autumnal landscape.


But who is this man? Why has he come here, and what is he carrying in that case? Don’t worry if you have yet to see the fi lm – I’ll do my best not to give away too much of the story.


PROVENCE IN PICTURES


Our tour begins at La Font-de-Mai, a domaine/eco-museum in a picturesque rural setting near the town of Aubagne, in the Bouches- du-Rhône département, where the celebrated writer and fi lmmaker


Marcel Pagnol was born in 1895. Here, our guide, Georges Mérentier, himself a local man, explains how Pagnol regularly walked the surrounding limestone hills, dominated by the mighty Garlaban massif, as both a child and an adult.


He also tells us that Pagnol was possessed of a very scientifi c as well as creative mind, enabling him to make useful notes on the fl ora and fauna he found among the dense garrigue and rocky slopes. It was this attention to detail that would subsequently furnish his imagination when he came to write the screenplay for L’Eau des Collines (1952). Somewhat unusually in fi lmmaking (it’s normally the other way round), Pagnol later adapted his book of the same name from this, adding the Jean de Florette storyline. Likewise, he drew deeply on his experience and local knowledge for the series of semi- autobiographical books he wrote that were also turned into fi lms, most notably La Gloire de mon Père.


❯❯ Aug/Sep 2022 FRANCE TODAY ❘ 103


IMAGE © SHUTTERSTOCK


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