Best French Films Ever.
Top Rated French Movies: popular, classic, famous "must watch" Cinema Fançais

1. Jean de Florette & Manon Des Sources

Two films, one set about fifteen years after the other telling a wonderful story, full of period and regional detail, that takes your emotions on a roller coaster ride.

The story is set in Provence in the South of France in the early twentieth century, and centres on a farm with a "source" (a natural spring) on it - a valuable commodity in this region. But the deeper story is a classic Greek tragedy in which Nemesis tracks Hubris with heartbreaking consequences.

Marcel Pagnol, the author of the book on which the film is based, claimed to have been told the core story as an actual event which took place in this area (where he spent his childhood).

Brilliant performances by Yves Montand and Daniel Auteuil.

Look out for some words of the local language (the Provençal dialect of Occitan, the language of the Troubadours). Examples are Papet (grandfather) and fada (insane - litterally "with the fairies"); note also the wonderful rich southern accent.

The US title of the second installment is inexplicably Manon of the Spring (singular) whereas the French translates as Manon of the Springs (plural) - this is significant because two different springs are key to the story, and at one point a character clearly explains why the locals call her "Manon of the Springs.

If you don't feel you've learned anything about human nature by the end of the second part then you must be phenomenally wise or uniquely dim.

By the way, it's worth learning French just to be able to read the books by Marcel Pagnol on which these films are based. They are even more riveting and moving than the films - if you can imagine such a thing.

Click on the flags below for details of the books, and how to buy through Amazon.

A note on Location.

Pagnol spent his childhood summers in the Provençal countryside near to Marseille, described in his Souvenirs d'un Enfance (Memories of a Childhood).

When he became a film maker he shot many of his films here at the foot of his beloved Garlaban, including an early version of Jean de Florette / Manon des Sources. (His wife, Jacqueline, played Manon in his version)

Claude Berri came back to the Garlaban in the 1980's to remake Jean de Florette / Manon des Sources, but found it so changed that he decided to shoot further east around Cuges-les-Pine and Riboux. The village and Manon's well were filmed in Mirabeau, in the Lubéron.

Today you can walk the Circuit Pagnol, a hike in the arid garrigues (scrublands) around Marseille and Aubagne. Drive to La Treille northeast of Aubagne and follow the signs.