Review of Jean de Florette (1986) by Jason M — 13 Jun 2009

Jean De Florette is a film that tries to do a lot by doing very little, and instead ends up failing to create a compelling story. The acting is fine, especially from the legendary Gerard Depardieu, but the two "protaganists" are just too ugly in spirit to inspire sympathy.

This is the film's intention, as the audience is supposed to feel for Depardieu, but this bites the movie in the ass because of its poor decisions. Daniel Auteuil plays the simpleton Ugolin who carries out the ideas of his grandfather Cesar (Yves Montand).

The whole movie is mostly the two conning Depardieu out of his land so they can greedily use the spring on his property. This would have made for an interesting comedy, but the film is almost never funny.

Thus, we get a drama that is never dramatic enough to conjure any pathos for the characters. It is just extremely painful and unenjoyable to watch scene after scene of Cesar and Ugolin swindling Depardieu's honest and somewhat likeable husband and father, who just so happens to be a hunchback.

Speaking of which, the choice to have him be a hunchback has absolutely no significance within the plot, and it's impossible not to be distracted by his condition. It's just a questionable and bad directorial choice.

There are many other problems, such as how Cesar and Ugolin can be as evil as they are. The worst scenes come at the beginning and the end, where they gleefully and easily celebrate the death of another.

This just begs the question: who in their right mind would so easily take the accidental death of another? This clashes with the film's intention to be as blisteringly realistic as possible, as it is extremely unrealistic and almost cartoonish.

They do not feel remorse, guilt, or sadness- they just see it as a means to make money, and it is this mentality that makes the film impossible to enjoy and the characters impossible to like. A terrible, awful film.