Manon of the Spring (1952 film)
| Company type | Film |
|---|---|
| Industry | Film industry |
| Founded | 1952 |
| Founder | Marcel Pagnol |
| Products | Drama film |
Manon of the Spring (, ) is a 1952 French drama film presented in two parts, directed by Marcel Pagnol and featuring performances by Jacqueline Pagnol, Raymond Pellegrin, and Rellys. The first installment is titled Manon of the Spring, followed by the second part named Ugolin. Marcel Pagnol created this film specifically as a showcase for his wife, Jacqueline.
The narrative focuses on Manon, a young woman living close to a rural village in Provence, who is regarded as an outsider by the locals. The story unfolds to reveal her deliberate plan for vengeance against the man responsible for swindling her family out of their land, as well as against the community that allowed this injustice.
Ten years later, Pagnol expanded this tale into a two-volume novel called The Water of the Hills. This story was later adapted once more in 1986 into the films Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring.
Part one: Manon of the Spring
In a small village in Provence, local gendarmes are searching for Manon, a young woman who lives with her sick mother in the surrounding hills and supports herself by tending goats and engaging in poaching. Villagers inform the local schoolteacher that Manon is the daughter of a hunchbacked farmer who passed away two years earlier. She has earned the nickname "Manon of the springs" due to her father’s reputation for unsuccessfully using a dowsing rod to locate water sources to irrigate his land.
Although regarded as an outsider, her father was actually the son of Florette, a village woman who had married outside their community. After inheriting a farm from his uncle, he suffered mistreatment from villagers unaware of his maternal connection. Le Papet, an elder who had once sought to marry Florette himself, blames her decision to wed beyond the village for her son’s misfortune. Following the hunchback’s death, Ugolin purchased his land. Manon faces hostility from local women who accuse her of witchcraft.
While in the hills, Manon encounters Baptistine, an elderly woman who has placed a curse on the village after her husband’s grave was disturbed. Manon is arrested on charges of injuring Polyte and stealing melons from Ugolin’s property. During an informal hearing led by the chief gendarme, the schoolteacher defends Manon as someone victimized by superstition. Manon recounts how she fought off Polyte’s attack; Ugolin confirms he had given her melons. Consequently, she is freed.
As preparations begin for the village’s fountain festival, Manon returns to the hills and reunites with Baptistine, who advises her on how to carry out her revenge. She forms a friendship with the schoolteacher and expresses her contempt for the villagers. Manon tells how her family once traveled great distances daily to collect irrigation water before Ugolin acquired their farm and quickly discovered a spring there. She mentions Baptistine’s curse; although skeptical, the schoolteacher senses impending calamity.
Manon meets Ugolin in the hills; he awkwardly declares his love and promises to share his inheritance from Le Papet with her. She rejects his advances and mocks his moustache, which he later shaves off seriously. Equipped with tools and a pickaxe, Manon returns to the village during the festival while Ugolin appears clean-shaven. Suddenly, the village’s irrigation spring runs dry, causing alarm over water shortages that threaten farms and livelihoods.
Part two: Ugolin
A rural engineer examines the dry spring but discovers no evidence, advising the villagers to depend on water deliveries or consider relocating. Later, Manon observes Ugolin praying before a statue of the Virgin Mary, confessing to having committed a grave wrongdoing.
During mass, the priest implies that the village suffers divine punishment for an unspecified fault and calls for introspection. He announces a procession dedicated to Saint Dominic to petition for the restoration of water. Following the service, the schoolteacher reminds Manon of her earlier warning about impending calamity; she reveals her intention to leave and agrees to attend a gathering at his residence.
In the schoolteacher’s garden, villagers assemble with suspicions directed at Ugolin. Manon accuses him of blocking the sole spring that irrigated her family’s land, which led her father into debt and ultimately losing their farm to Ugolin. Ugolin denies any misconduct, insisting he only provided legitimate loans. Eliacin corroborates Manon’s story, recalling Ugolin sealing the spring during his childhood. Manon’s family endured hardship and sorrow—her brother died from contaminated water, her father succumbed to grief, and her mother lost her sanity—without assistance from the community. Ugolin expresses a hint of remorse and offers to restore everything by marrying Manon, who refuses him. As the villagers turn hostile, Ugolin declines to swear his innocence on the Gospel and escapes.
In a state of delirium, Ugolin roams the hills haunted by visions of the hunchback’s family carrying water. When villagers visit to arrange compensation, they instead find that he has taken his own life by hanging and left a written confession. They inform Manon that Ugolin has bequeathed the farm to her and invite her to join the procession. The schoolteacher convinces Manon to relinquish her desire for revenge; together they unblock the spring.
During the procession, water flows once more from the fountain; the priest hails this as a miraculous event. Manon sells Ugolin’s carnation crop to another farmer and intends to use the income for her father’s tomb and her mother’s care. The Mayor offers to refurbish the old presbytery as Manon’s home but departs when sensing an unwelcome presence. The schoolteacher declares his love for Manon.
Production
Manon of the Spring was envisioned by Marcel Pagnol as a personal gift for his wife, actress Jacqueline Pagnol, who had appeared in his earlier films such as Naïs, The Pretty Miller Girl, and Topaze. The success of Topaze afforded Pagnol greater creative liberty.
The screenplay was inspired by an allegedly true tale concerning a young woman seeking retribution against those who seized her family’s farm, often involving a spring. Pagnol also incorporated elements from Jacqueline’s childhood experiences as a goat-herder.
Pagnol initially aimed to cast prominent actor Fernandel as Ugolin; however, Fernandel declined due to other projects, which caused tension between them. After considering Fernandel’s brother Fransined, Pagnol ultimately selected Rellys for the role.
Filming commenced in June 1952 at Marseille Studios and on location near La Treille and Aubagne. Set designs were created by art director Eugène Delfau. The production took place during an exceptionally hot summer; Pagnol and Jacqueline remained in La Treille to preserve authenticity. Rellys also resided there for close collaboration with Pagnol.
The fountain featured in key scenes is situated at place Maurice Thouvenin in La Treille and is now commercially known as fontaine Manon des sources (Manon of the Spring fountain).
Release and reception
Pagnol's original edit spanned six hours, which he then shortened to four, envisioning it as two separate two-hour films. However, at the insistence of distributor Gaumont, the runtime was further cut to three hours. The movie debuted in Nice in December 1952, receiving favorable audience reactions, though critics offered mixed reviews. When it opened widely in theaters in January 1953, Jean de Baroncelli of Le Monde criticized the three-hour duration as still overly lengthy. Subsequently, Gaumont requested an even more condensed version lasting 90 minutes.
From a commercial standpoint, the film performed well, attracting 4.2 million viewers and securing the ninth spot at the 1953 box office.
Film scholar Colin Crisp hailed Manon of the Spring as "one of the great triumphs of naive filmmaking," highlighting its continuation of Pagnol’s prewar cinematic tradition. Nevertheless, he found Jacqueline Pagnol's portrayal unconvincing for a rural character due to her refined demeanor.
In 1968, Pagnol reworked the four-hour cut into an 18-episode television miniseries, each installment approximately 15 minutes long, broadening its accessibility.
Retelling as a novel
Capitalizing on the film’s popularity, Pagnol transformed his screenplay into a two-volume novel called The Water of the Hills (L'Eau des collines), released a decade later. The initial book, Jean de Florette, acts as a prequel, while the second volume, Manon des sources, revisits the film’s narrative with additional plot developments and a reshaped structure. Significantly, Le Papet emerges as the mastermind behind schemes targeting Jean and uncovers that Jean is his own biological son—a fresh narrative twist. In 1986, Claude Berri directed a new cinematic adaptation split into two parts: Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring.
Home media
The extended four-hour version of Manon of the Spring was made available on DVD in 2007. A restored edition in 4K Blu-ray format was released in 2023 under the supervision of Marcel Pagnol’s grandson Nicolas. Additionally, the film can be streamed on various platforms offering VOD, including Pathé Home, Canal+, and Arte.