Gerard Depardieu played the townie Jean de Florette attempting the country life in Provence with an operatic wife and sensitive daughter Manon. Jean’s mother came from this craggy region and he dreamed of a life as a farmer. But the rains didn’t come, the crops failed and then in a freak accident he was killed. Neighbours, Papet (Yves Montand) and his nephew Ugolin (Daniel Auteuil) who had befriended him on the pretext of getting his property moved in buying it cheap from the widow. The child Manon overhears their elation as they unearth the spring that they had blocked to thwart Jean. They mistake her shriek of anger, hatred and loss for that of a bird.
There are echoes of the story as I wander round the location villages of Vaugines, Ansouis and Mirabeau in central Provence. There hasn’t been a decent drop of rain for three years. The earth is parched and cracked like a jigsaw. The sun beats down warming the thyme and rosemary in the ditches to scent the air. In the films the hills are much more verdantly covered in green.
Jacques Allaire points to the dry grass and tells me it is not so bad for the olives and vines, which don’t need much water, but the vegetables and fruit trees suffer. He was location manager on the original films and today is president of the local board of cinema in the region helping film crews to find locations and ease relations between village and crew. Tough and sinewy like a lot of the old men in the region he is keen and passionate frequently grabbing my shoulder to bring home a point.
“The logistics were a nightmare” says Allaire. As we pass through the villages and landscape where the films were shot I understand why. This part of Provence - in the Luberon north of Marseille and in the Massif de la Sainte Baume to the east - isn’t lavender fields. It is rugged, tough, the villages small and inward, the people secretive and wary. Life is close to the soil because that is where the work is. Twenty miles from Marseille and it feels like the 19th century.
The centre of the films, the local village of Roumarin is actually Mirabeau in real life. A pretty little village where, Allaire tells me, all the facades were replaced with painted polystyrene during filming to age them. Water is the centre of the films. Jean de Florette could have become prosperous if he had known there was a spring on his property, yet the villagers wouldn’t tell him thinking he was an outsider. In Manon des Sources as Manon discovers the extent of the deceit she blocks the spring source (which she discovers by accident) that feeds the village and its farms. Mirambeau is only a few shops, school (where Manon’s teacher husband come from) and church but it’s the fountain in its square that takes centre stage. “All the electric wires had to be put underground,” said Allaire “and the roads closed off for five months. If a villager had to cross the set to go to work we had to give them a period costume to do it.”
Yves Montand had visited Mirambeau incognito before filming. But incognito doesn’t exist for the most famous actor and singer France has produced, so his discreet pastis with the locals filled the café. (This introduction stood him in good stead when the great love of his life (among others) the actress Simone Signoret died. The whole village went into mourning and everyone signed a book of condolence just outside his dressing room. Then they misdirected all the paparazzi.)
The pressure on the actors during filming was immense because of the conditions and the increasing budget. They frequently returned to Paris for TV and theatre work as the shooting took a year. Depardieu (Jean), immune to pressure, was infamous for fooling about, telling jokes, swearing at planes interrupting the shot and never knowing his lines until the camera was rolling.
You can see the Jean de Florette house just north of the village of Vaugines (where the exterior of the church was used for Manon’s wedding and Ugolin’s grave). The air is alive with crickets and a merciless sun has you heading for the shade. It is a steep and winding path into the Parc Naturel Régional du Luberon but it gives you a sense of the remoteness of this landscape. The imposing Jean de Florette house can only be viewed across a valley though. The owners are rather tired of tourists and even as Allaire and myself peek at the house they came out with field glasses and spied on us spying on them. “They have a simple solution to problems around here,” said Allaire “and it’s usually 12 bore.”
It was in such a landscape that the most memorable part of the film occurs – to me anyway - Emmanuelle Béart (Manon) dancing naked while playing a harmonica. Unlike most French actresses she didn’t jump at this opportunity. Reluctantly she started to derobe at a snail’s pace when suddenly the director Claude Berri appeared next to her completely starkers saying “it’s not that difficult, look at me”. Surprisingly this convinced her. Ah the French! And when I was sixteen and watching this film for the first time I was thoroughly convinced of her performance and destined to treat all French women with awe especially those that can play the harmonica.
Eating the film:
You are on the very outskirts of Marseille with a stunning view below you of a valley straight out of Cezanne backed by the mountains of Saint Cyr. Over them is the city. The terrace has a nice breeze and eating under the plane tree has to rate as “le must” experience. Le Cigalon is a very welcoming place particularly because of Dominque a flamboyant and witty man who depending if he likes you provides a free digestif. The restaurant is famous as the setting of one of Marcel Pagnol’s own films and the dishes are as purely Provencal as him. Starters are a buffet of either vegetables or charcuterie – the typical dish here is the anchoïade a dip of anchovies and garlic with crunchy veg. Mains are daube a beef stew in tomato sauce or Alouette sans tête, meatballs rolled in bacon in tomato sauce. To end have a cold soup of red fruits with a scoop of champagne sorbet. Château Ferrages, a Cotes de Provence rosé goes well with anything in my opinion. This should help you put into action the old Provence motto of “slowly in the morning and not too fast in the afternoon”. Le Cigalon (00 33 4 91 43 03 63) 9 Bd Louis Pasteur 13011 Marseille.
Walking the film:
To the east of Aubagne is the Massif de la Sainte Baume. This was the setting of Papet’s house, the cistern for the whole village and the cave where Manon finds the spring’s source. (All the directions – and you’ll need them – are available from the tourist office in Aubagne.) There are only stony paths up here but my guide Edmond Mattone a very lithe 71 year old who is the local Marcel Pagnol expert speeds ahead. “I shouldn’t lose my Provencal reputation for laziness. We even walk in the shade to avoid carrying our own shadow.” It was along these windy pitted paths into the hills that Claude Berri took army trucks with generators and had to make special roads. There is nothing but cicadas and pine trees and rock. Some people come to pick the wild herbs but you’re unlikely to meet anyone. Having said that Mattone was mid-anecdote when a big hairy Dutchman approached clutching a map of France and asking “which way is Marseille”. He looked as if he had been in the hills since the war. But sang froid is a French _expression and Mattone pointed vaguely to the southwest saying he ought to have a better map. Bring lots of water if you do walk up here, even in winter.
Museum – The Little World of Marcel Pagnol, Aubagne. This part of the south has a local craft of santons. These are little figurines originally part of the Xmas crib that after time began to be made into generic local figures like the women of Arles (meant to be the most beautiful in France) and then into national but more usually local characters, from stories, legends and scandals. It’s all a bit kitsch but if you want to see Manon, Ugolin and Jean de Florette at about six inches high then here is your place. There are also other characters from the works of Marcel Pagnol including his two autobiographical works The Glory of My Father and The Castle of My Mother.
Getting there:
easyJet (www.easyjet.com) fly to Marseille from Gatwick from £41 return. Hertz (08708 484848, www.hertz.co.uk) offer cars from £112 per week from Marseille Airport.
La Tuilière (00 33 4 90 68 24 45, www.latuiliere.com) near the village of Cadenet is owned by Clotilde and Didier Borgarino. Didier speaks a little English and was a pharmacist for 21 years before taking on this old bastide and renovating it with the help of Clotilde. Rooms have their own private door to the outside and are spacious if a little lacking in character. Copies of recent gossip magazines fill you in on what’s chaud and what’s beau. Doubles B&B from €65 a night.
For last minute bargains have a look at www.provencedeals.com. For more information visit www.provenceweb.fr, www.visitprovence.com, www.provenceguide.com.
