Jean de Florette

If you wonder whether a movie critic is worth their salt, see how they rated Jean de Florette - a true masterpiece that unfolds like the best Thomas Hardy tragedy.

Loved this movie and have watched it many times. It is a beautiful, tragic, love story hitting many different cylinders. This movie reveals human nature at its worse, yet the ending hints at payback retribution, possibly yet to come.

Such a simple and powerful story. So well directed, acted and shot that it's become a French classic. Probably the most successful French movie ever made, and deservedly so!

A compelling story in beautiful scenery delivered with great acting, especially Daniel Auteuil's.

This two part masterpiece JEAN DE FLORETTE & MANON DE SOURCES needs to be seen in order so it's cumulative affect can be realized.. These are among the greatest French films in my experience & it treats the themes of naivety, greed, betrayal, & revenge in a powerfully affecting manner all the way to its conclusion. Depardieu does some of his best work here as a decent & somewhat handicapped city dweller who moves his family to the country in search of eking out a living as a farmer but is unfortunately naive in dealing with his neighbors many of whom are unwelcoming towards him. Montand gives his last great film performance & is matched by Daniel Auteuil, as his pathetic nephew who becomes involved in his uncle's unscrupulous schemes. Emmanuelle Beart plays the adult Manon in the second film & gives a vivid characterization as well. Adding to both of the film's atmosphere is the continuing use of a particular musical motive from Verdi's LA FORZA DEL DESTINO (The Force of Destiny) which underscores the various themes within the film. Berri, the Director, has made an enduring masterpiece that is moving in its depiction of man's inhumanity but through his sensitive filmmaking an overall humanity is nonetheless still permeates the proceedings, IMO.

Characters and parable are both luminous. An easy watch with beautiful scenery. Looking forward to the second part as I bought both in a double pack DVD some time ago. Sat on the shelf over a year I watched and that's a shame because it was a fantastic opener.

I think it's one of the best movies ever made (including part 2 Manon of the Spring). If you don't like romance movies give it a pass, but otherwise if you don't check it out, you're missing out.

Not the Magnus Opus that people say it is. The story is very straight forward, though the acting is good these 2 hours of misery could've been compressed into 1 if they wanted to do 2 movies from the start

Beautifully shot; expertly acted with enormous nuance; feel drawn into characters even when they are doing wrong

Jean de Florette is a film that kept reinventing itself for me. Every time I thought I had figured out how it was going they would shift to a different story. The movie constantly surprised me in new and different ways. At times it was humorous, and I thought that the whole movie was going to be a comedy, but that definitely changed. It got much darker as the movie progressed and I realized everything I predicted was wrong. The movie looks at the difficulties of farming and how hard it can be to make a living without easy access to water. It’s also a morality tale as we watch people willing to do just about anything in order to make their own life better. The film gets a little heavy and that aspect was harder for me to deal with, particularly because I didn’t see it coming. I also struggled with the fact that the movie doesn’t feel complete on its own, in fact it literally ends with a message that it is only “Part 1.” Jean de Florette leaves you hanging so much that you can’t quit after watching it, you have to keep going. This is not a terrible problem, though. Any time I get to the end of a movie and still want more, it’s a good sign that I’ve been invested in the story. Jean de Florette is a film I found fascinating and I will look forward to watching it again, as long as I can watch Manon of the Spring right after.