In the 30s, a small village in the Provence is losing its inhabitants because young people prefer to go to the city to find easy jobs and escape from being farmers living in relative poverty. Only a few old people and the poacher Panturle remain. Panturle dreams of bringing the village back to life, finding a wife, founding a family and work as a farmer. One day, the village is visited by a traveling knife-grinder, Urbain Gedemus and a young woman, Arsule. Gedemus treats Arsule like a slave, but Arsule accept this because she has nowhere to go and -we guess- her 'work' with Gedemus is the last thing that saves her from being a prostitute. When she meets Panturle and knows about his dreams, she escapes from Gedemus and decides to stay with him. Together, they start a new life, made of hard farming work but mostly of happiness to have each other, fulfilling the earlier dreams of Panturle. Can anything break the happiness of their new life?
Cinematography
Pagnol's Provence glows with almost cruel beauty against human struggle.
Acting
Orane Demazis breaks your heart without ever asking for pity.
Writing
Pagnol's dialogue builds entire lives in single sentences.
Director
Marcel Pagnol
Fernandel
Urbain Gedemus
Robert Le Vigan
Sergeant De Sault
Marguerite Moreno
Zia Mameche
Gabriel Gabrio
Panturle, le paysan d'Aubignane
Orane Demazis
Mlle Irène alias « Arsule », la compagne d'Urbain
Henri Poupon
le fermier ami de Panturle
Milly Mathis
Belline
Édouard Delmont
le père Gaubert, forgeron
Charles Blavette
Jasmin Gaubert, le fils
Jean Servais
Albin
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Pagnol filmed near his childhood home; the abandoned village was real and dying, not constructed.
Fernandel, already famous, took the supporting villain role because he believed in Pagnol's vision of rural France.
FR
