Almost 19-year-old Marius feels himself in a rut in Marseille, his life planned for him by his cafe'-owning father, and he longs for the sea. The night before he is to leave on a 5-year voyage, Fanny, a girl he grew up with, reveals that she is in love with him, and he discovers that he is in love with her. He must choose between an exciting life at sea, and a boring life with the woman he loves. And Fanny must choose between keeping the man she loves, and letting him live the life he seems to want.
Acting
Chevalier's Panisse: creepy until he's devastating. The switch is masterful.
Cinematography
Marseille's harbor never looked this edible. You can taste the salt.
Score
Harold Rome's music does 90% of the emotional heavy lifting.
Director
Joshua Logan
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This is actually the middle chapter of Marcel Pagnol's 'Marseille Trilogy'—Marius (1931) and César (1936) bookend it, but Hollywood skipped straight to the juicy romantic crisis.
Leslie Caron fought to keep Fanny's pregnancy visible rather than hidden, making 1961 audiences confront what polite cinema usually erased. The baby bump IS the plot.
US
