Jean de Florette

1986 122 min ★ 7.7 Drama

In a rural French village, an old man and his only remaining relative cast their covetous eyes on an adjoining vacant property. They need its spring water for growing their flowers, and are dismayed to hear that the man who has inherited it is moving in. They block up the spring and watch as their new neighbour tries to keep his crops watered from wells far afield through the hot summer. Though they see his desperate efforts are breaking his health and his wife and daughter's hearts, they think only of getting the water.

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Cast

Yves Montand

César Soubeyran, aka 'le Papet'

Gérard Depardieu

Jean Cadoret, hunchback, son of Florette

Daniel Auteuil

Ugolin Soubeyran, nephew of Papet

Elisabeth Depardieu

Aimée Cadoret, wife of Jean

Margarita Lozano

Baptistine, Piedmontese of the cave

Ernestine Mazurowna

Manon Cadoret, daughter of Jean & Aimée

Armand Meffre

Philoxène, mayor

André Dupon

Pamphile, joiner

Pierre Nougaro

Casimir

Jean Maurel

Anglade, believer

Details

Director

Claude Berri

Screenplay

Gérard Brach

Tagline

"For some men, land and water are more precious than flesh and blood."

Status

Released

Original Language

FR

Budget

$4,940,939

Production

DD Productions, Films A2, Renn Productions, AMLF, RAI, TSR

Reviews

N

Nutshell

May 22, 2020

sub·tle (adjective) Definition: making use of clever and indirect methods to achieve something. One of the most celebrated French films of the 1980s, and with good reason. I don't think there's ever been a film that better depicts evil so subtlety well as Jean de Florette, specifically in terms of greed, covetousness, and selfishness. It is not at all a "thriller", but an engrossing drama that...

F

Filipe Manuel Neto

June 16, 2023

★ 8/10

**The power of envy and the ineffectiveness of farming by handbooks.** The film is quite good, perhaps one of the best French films I've seen this year, which whets the appetite for the sequel, which is reputed to be even better. Simple, this film begins with the cunning maneuvers of a wealthy Provençal farmer to obtain cheaply the land of a neighboring property. It turns out that the owner is ...

C

CinemaSerf

May 6, 2024

★ 7/10

"Ugolin" (Daniel Auteuil) returns from the war to his wealthy uncle "Papet" (Yves Montant) with some inspiration. He doesn't divulge his cunning plan until he is ready, and then presents the man with some perfectly cultivated carnations. It turns out there's money in flowers, but they also need a great deal of water. Gallons and gallons of the stuff. It occurs to "Papet" that their curmudgeonly ne...