Jean de Florette (1986)

   Films. Arguably two of the best examples of the French heritage film, are Claude Berri's Jean de Florette and its sequel Manon des sources. The films recount the saga of Papet (Yves Montand) and Ugolin (Daniel Auteuil) Soubeyran, members of an old family from the village of Crespin. The two plot to acquire the farm of their neighbor, Jean (Gérard Depardieu), a tax collector who has moved from the city to the village. Jean is the son of Florette, a former resident of the village, but is still seen as an outsider. As a result of the plot against him, Jean never discovers the existence of a spring on his property, a spring the Soubeyrans have plugged. Jean's farm ultimately fails, and Jean is killed in a dynamite accident, while attempting to locate a water source on his property.

   In the sequel, Manon (Emmanuelle Béart), Jean's daughter, takes revenge on the Soubeyrans and the village as a whole, when she finds the hidden source that feeds all of the springs in the village, and blocks it. It is ultimately discovered that Jean was Papet's illegitimate son, and his grief is doubled when Ugolin, distressed over unrequited love for Manon, kills himself.

   Both films were enormously popular—in fact, they are two of the most popular films ever made in France, probably precisely because of their connection to heritage. The films offer an idealized representation of the rural past—connections apparent in the choice of subject matter, the mise-en-scène, and in the narrative content. In fact, the films are as much about Provence, rural life, and village culture as they are about Jean and the Soubeyrans. All of these elements were no doubt attractive in a France fearful of globalization, sensing a loss of power and identity with the advent of the European Union, and sometimes panicked by demographic changes in its population prompted by emigration from former colonies. The films also foreground community and tradition, reassuring themes in a rapidly changing world. They constitute a visually spectacular representation of an important time and place in French cultural heritage, since French identity and regional identity are often linked in the popular sentiment. Moreover, the films are doubly linked to cultural memory, since they are based on a novel and a film by Marcel Pagnol, his 1953 film Manon des sources, and his 1962 novel L'Eau des collines. Therefore, the Berri films function as both literary adaptations of classical texts in French regional literature and cinematic remakes of films that are considered part of classical French cinema.

   In addition to the elements of heritage and nostalgia that are present in the films, they feature strong performances by some of the best-known actors in France. Montand and Depardieu were already icons when the films were made, and Auteuil and Béart have gone on to become stars. The success in both cases is linked to their performances in the films. Technically, the films are fairly straightforward with respect to their cinematography and editing, although, as with many other heritage films, they feature high production values.