Jean de Florette (1986) on Netflix
César Soubeyran and his nephew Ugolin grow carnations and covet the spring on the neighboring farm. Jean Cadoret inherits it and moves in with his family, determined to make the farm profitable.
- Netflix4.1/5
- IMDb8.1/1029,701 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes91%
Trailer
Plot summary
Ugolin Soubeyran returns from military service and starts growing carnations on his land in the hills outside a Provençal village. His uncle César, called Le Papet, doubts the plan until the flowers sell well at market, and the two then set their sights on the neighboring farm and the spring that would water it. The neighbor refuses to sell. The land passes to Jean Cadoret, a tax collector in the city, and the spring is plugged with cement and earth before he arrives. Jean, who is hunchbacked, moves in with Aimée, his wife, and their small daughter Manon. He has left the tax office to farm, intends to raise rabbits and grow his own produce, and wants the place to pay within two years. He tells Ugolin he will not sell.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Jean de Florette (1986)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Claude Berri first cast the comedian Coluche as Ugolin, but Coluche, who was from the Paris area, did not want to fake a Provençal accent, gave unconvincing screen tests, and demanded 11 million francs so that Berri would not hire him.
- Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources were filmed together over thirty weeks, from May to December 1985, so that Berri could show Provence's changing seasons; at 120 million francs ($17 million) it was then the most expensive film project in French history.
- The part of Ugolin went to Daniel Auteuil, who grew up in Avignon, after Claude Berri found him 'too handsome' at their first meeting; Auteuil shaved his head and asked for a second interview to win the role.
- Filming was particularly trying for Yves Montand because his wife of thirty-three years died during the shoot; he died in 1991 and the two films were among the last of a career spanning forty-five years.
- In Mirabeau the crew replaced the houses' facades with painted polystyrene so they would look older and buried all the electric wires; in Vaugines, Berri planted a dozen olive trees twelve months before filming and watered them while he waited, plus 10,000 carnations for the second film.
- Daniel Auteuil considered giving up the role of Ugolin after finding his own performance lackluster in the first dailies, then found his way into the character by making him likeable.
- The two films, along with Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence, are credited with increased interest in and tourism to Provence, especially among the British, and a rise in British home ownership in southern France; as late as 2005 tourists still trespassed on the film's house.
