Movie Diary

Marius: I figured out overnight why it took me so long to get around to watching this movie. It was being forced to watch Manon of the Spring in a high-school French class and absolutely hating it. I might have a different opinion now, but the problem is that that formative experience colored my opinion of Marcel Pagnol for years and years and clearly influenced me away from watching anything in his Fanny trilogy, of which this is the first installment. Well, yet again, I'm admitting to being a dumbass because I could have had years of fond memories of this absolutely charming movie, but instead I frittered it away on terrible horror anthologies. It's kind of like if The Andy Griffith Show were a movie set in Marseilles, only with a wee bit more drama thrown in. The characters are eccentric but not ridiculously so. The pace is ambling without being annoying. The interactions are key. There's not much to the plot. Marius wants to take to the sea; he loves Fanny, and Fanny loves him, but the question is which love wins out: woman or adventure? Most of what happens takes place in a very limited setting and with a small number of characters (Pagnol adapted it from his own play, and it feels like one), and there's a lot of conversing in the local bar, owned by Marius's father, César (played by Raimu), after whom the third installment is named and by far my favorite character. It's got a small-town view and a definite nostalgia to the entire picture, but there's little in the way of sentimentality. Pagnol continually has the characters undercut what they're literally saying with their behavior, and it's all done with a very light touch. There's not much in the way of cinematic whatnot on display, but man is it all watchable and sweet. The other two should be up in the queue shortly.