The Well Digger's Daughter (2011)

"I don't like the corked wine", Pascal said. In the movie it is losely translated as "I don't like the fancy wine" which is not quite the same. This sentence summarizes this movie. The pure mentality of the French villager "à la campagne". He prefers his own wine, (they make and cork their own wine from their own vineyards). He doesn't want to buy somebody else's wine. He doesn't want to be like "les Parisiens". He has contempt for the Parisians. He doesn't want to be part of the city "elite". He wants to live peacefully in the countryside with his family, his rules, and his routine. "Vous savez les impôts moi, on en a marre..."

The movie is about Pascal (Daniel Auteil, a well-digger) father of six daughters living the hard life in the countryside in France, at the start of World War I. He always wanted a son, and he tried and tried, but he got six daughters. His wife died after the last daughter was born. He sent the oldest daughter Patricia (Astrid Berges-Frisbey) to live in Paris when she was young, but after his wife died he called her back to help him raise the other five daughters. She is well educated and he wants her to get married with his friend/assistant Felipe (Kad Merad), a nice simple man but much older than her. Of course she doesn't like him and is falling for Jacques (Nicolas Duvauchelle), a wealthy young pilot just in town for few days, whose parents are rich and own the big grocery store in town. She is impregnated by him just before he is called back into duty. What is going to happen next? Is he going to come back from the war? Is she going to tell her dad about the situation? Are they going to keep the baby? How the villagers and Jacques' parents going to react to these events? Those are some of the questions coming to mind. You will definitely get surprised by the answers and the plot of the movie. It is not what you expect. Hence, Marcel Pagnol's genius...He understands the human mind better than anybody else!

This is another great adaptation of the work of Marcel Pagnol by Daniel Auteil, but this time he is also the director. Twenty five years later Daniel Auteil went back to the source that made him famous. Who forgot Ugolin playing alongside Yves Montand (César) in "Jean de Florette/Manon de source"? Daniel Auteil has the exact same accent, the same movements and same interaction with the camera, just few extra pounds. After I watched this movie I had to watch "Manon de source" again!

This is a fabulous film and Daniel Auteuil takes over with his very poignant acting. He delivers some of the most powerful performance I have ever seen by an actor in several scenes. If you really liked "Jean de Florette/Manon de source" you will definitely appreciate this movie. Is not as intense as the other two movies, has a different plot, but really describes the mentality of the villagers in the countryside in France that is slowly disappearing these days because the people are disappearing. If you want to see and feel the French countryside mentality during the 1900's, then watch the movie!

Five stars all around for everything but mostly for the powerful performances of all actors which are remarkable.

Why awful? Well, unless you understand French or have a TV screen the size of a garage door, you won't understand a thing. The subtitles, if you can even call them that, are so tiny I can only figure the producers of this DVD are mocking those of us who can't understand French. It took me a bit to even realize the titles were turned on.

I turned it off after a minute.

Usually I complain about Granada, Koch, A&E and others who don't bother to put captions for those who are hearing impaired, like my mother is. In this case they should at least include some Pimsleur French lessons. Why even release this in the US?

If anyone out there had a different experience, maybe you got a DVD with real workable subtitles, please let me know in the comments section.

Buy The Well Digger's Daughter (2011) Now

A quarter century ago, Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring transported us to the sun-drenched world of Pagnol's Provence. Five year's later, My Father's Glory/My Mother's Castle brought us there again. What a delight it is to be able to return there two decades later with Auteuil's update of "The Well-Digger's Daughter." For me, it was just what the doctor ordered at the end of a year when Americans have been so exposed to so much violence--both on and off-screen. Even our Christmas releases are filled with blood and death these days. See this film if you enjoy stories with warmth, compassion and humanity.

Read Best Reviews of The Well Digger's Daughter (2011) Here

The playwright, novelist turned filmmaker Marcel Pagnol will be remembered for his 1930′s romantic films such as "The Fanny Trilogy" (which consists of "Marius", "Fanny" and "Cesar").

An award-winning French filmmaker who worked on more than a dozen films, for many who grew up with his work, his work captured France in the early 20th Century. By 1940, Pagnol would go on to direct "La fille du Puisatier" ("The Well-Diggers Daughter"), a film that would would later catch the interest of actor Daniel Auteuil ("36th Precinct", "Cache", "Un Coeur en Hiver", "The Valet"). An actor who also was once directed by Marcel Pagnol long ago for films such as "Jean de Florette" and "Manon of the Spring".

So much that it would lead to Auteuil to write, direct and star in the 2011 remake of the film (Auteuil is currently working on the remake of "The Fanny Trilogy"). In collaboration with cinematographer Jean-Francois Robin ("Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud", "Betty Blue", "Chaos") and composer Alexandre Desplat ("The King's Speech", "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1″), the film was well-received by film critics.

For those who have been waiting for a home video release of this film, "The Well-Digger's Daughter" was released in the U.S. in Dec. 2012 courtesy of Kino Lorber on Blu-ray and DVD.

VIDEO:

"The Well-Digger's Daughter" is presented in 1080p High Definition (1:85:1 aspect ratio). The first thing you will notice is how beautiful the scenic shots are. Jean-Francois Robin takes a page from Marcel Pagnol's writings of the countryside and capturing the beauty of the area, the flowers and the look of old France. The film showcases many colors during the outdoors, while the indoors looks amazing because of the amount of detail that can be seen.

Shot in 35 mm, picture quality is incredibly well-detailed. You can see the textures of the clothing, skin details, the film looks magnificent in HD.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

"The Well-Digger's Daughter" is presented in French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. The film is dialogue-driven but the surround channels provide a good amount of ambiance for its countryside environment. You will hear the birds, during the air show, you can hear crowds. But what sticks out the most is the music. Alexandre Desplat's music is absolutely beautiful and moving.

The film is presented with English subtitles.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

"The Well-Digger's Daughter" comes with trailers and 16 stills from the film.

JUDGMENT CALL:

I absolutely love Marcel Pagnol films. Its his way of covering romance and family, that is a style that makes me enamored with Yasujiro Ozu's work. They have a unique style of capturing an era of their country that is of the past but relationships that are tied into family tradition and honor.

Sure, "The Well-Digger's Daughter" can seem banal on paper, daughter gets pregnant, must tell parents and must raise child on their own. We've watched films like this, we've seen dramas about this.

But what makes this film so enchanting is how it centers around an old traditional family and how Pascal tries to keep his family's honor by having the man's family acknowledge her pregnancy and the baby. But to see how this loving father get dejected, lose his honor and essentially is forced to cut ties with his own daughter.

We also get to see the distinction of class differences, as Pascal is seen as a well-digger, Mme. Mazel is a woman who does not want her son mixing with poor women, and to why she burned the letter mean for Patricia, was it because she looked poor? Possibly.

But it's that display of one's guilt of getting pregnant before marriage and the inconvenience that was tied into the old traditions. Which may be hard for one to fathom in today's world, of many single parents and where family honor especially in the family name, in most modern cultures, are a thing of the past.

The performances of the film are also quite notable. French actor Daniel Auteuil has starred in many films, but his role as Pascal, he manages to portray the aged, hardworking father with efficacy. Also, you have another talented actor in Jean-Pierre Darroussin as Jacques' father and also actress Sabine Azema (partner of filmmaker Alain Resnais), playing Jacques domineering mother. The film features solid performances by these veteran talents and definitely makes this remake quite enjoyable.

While the film takes place during wartime and showcases an enjoyable romance melodrama, you can't help but watch these films and yearn for the days of old. The storytelling of Marcel Pagnol that is able to fit in the complexities of old traditional values but also make it appealing and enjoyable for today's audiences. While I have not seen the original "La Fille du puisatier" (as only a few Pagnol films have been released in America), for this remake, I absolutely enjoyed it.

Wonderful acting, enjoyable storytelling and beautiful cinematography... What a wonderful remake from Daniel Auteuil and a homage to Marcel Pagnol's work! "The Well-Digger's Daughter" is recommended!

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This would get a five star rating, except there are several scenes and a large block of pertinent scenes that were cut out of this version. Why this was done is shocking and stupid. To keep the film in it's original version would make this film perfect.. I've notices this happens regularly with DVDs, and I deeply resent some inept cretin editing films for some stupid reason. All that aside, this is a fabulous film but it is weakened by stupidity..

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