The Well-Digger's Daughter [Blu-ray]

"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.

My wife and I are pretty picky about the movies we watch; we don't often get to sit down for two hours and we want to be glad we spent the time as we did. We both enjoyed this film. This particular story is beautifully wrought. The sunshine, the casting, the details... it's quite an immersion. There is nothing easy about this story. As a result, it feels more like real life. None of the characters is completely good or completely bad. How many films have you watched where the circumstances are the plot and the characters are the figures around which the plot happens? The Well-Digger's Daughter is the opposite: the development of the characters is the plot. Something about that arrangement will resonate with you. Yes, there are circumstances that drive outcomes, but you will find yourself more concerned with the relationships in front of you. One of the things I particularly appreciated about this film is that it doesn't glorify poor decisions. It doesn't inject artificial romance into a situation where real romance wouldn't yet exist. As a result, you will identify closely with the situations because you've personally felt those conflicting emotions at some point in your own life. Finally, you will get the most out of the story if you keep the context in mind. The time, the culture, and the society in which it happens all have bearing on the outcome. If these characters existed today in middle-class America, they might behave differently, but you will still be able to relate. Be prepared to think about this one from time to time even days after you've watched it. Enjoy!

Loved it. I started watching it at my nail salon and just had to finish the movie to find out if the young lovers ever got back together. Sad but such a good romantic movie.

It is a great comfort to watch if you are wondering about the status between the wealthy and the working class. First of all, it is not as adventurous as Titanic, but you can enjoy the conflict between the rich boy's family and the well-digger's family when they all try to get along together for the sake of the baby. The wealthy evolved during the movie which is one of the reasons why i like the movie. And this movie also provide a happy ending for everyone including the well-digger's friend. Lastly, I liked the scenes a lot because they made the movie beautiful but also the plot made the scenes real. Because even something as terrible as a baby born out of wedlock can happen during one of those beautiful days out of no where. P.S., this movie was based on a French classic book, so that is bonus even through I never read French, but I hope to read the book after mastering French. In case you are wondering, it does have English CC

Great photography and pastoral scenes....with just lovely countryside. Takes you back in time...it's a gentle, sweet story about families, loving and turmoil. It's great dialogue, funny and charming....most enjoyable.

Well, I guess I'm at least glad this only cost me a few bucks. This thing is unwatchable, but then I took the risk based on a DVD with no information about regions, languages or anything else useful on the back cover. This is a DVD-R release from god only knows what company. The film looks like it was pulled from a questionable website with a print a dozen or more generations from a master print. The whites are so blown out in the film that it's hard to make out much of anything, and this gets even worse because the hard coded subtitles are the same bright white. So most of the time I couldn't even read them, and I don't speak French, so I can't watch this film. It's a shame too. I was really looking forward to it. Oh well. Hopefully I can at least prevent anyone else from getting their hopes up with this particular release. It's not worth your money.

This is unashamedly French cinema of the old school. Beautifully photographed in the sunlit countryside of Provence and a good old-fashioned story depicted by a super cast. It is early days in WW2 and the six daughters of well-digger Pascal (Auteil) fuss around him like hens round a pail of corn. The eldest daughter ,Patricia,(Astrid Berges-Frisbey) meets the handsome son of a well-to-do village merchant whilst washing some clothes down by a nearby river. They decide to meet again, a relationship develops but the young man has to go off to war (he is a pilot), without knowing that the girl has become pregnant. Time passes and the young man, Jacques, is lost and thought to be a casualty of the war. The baby,a boy, is born and a conflict arises between the family of Jacques and Pascal,who yearns for a boy in the family, over its upbringing. It is a story that deals with class and position in local society - the common artisan workman and the wealthy family of Jacques. This is a wonderfully entertaining film, the outcome of which keeps one guessing right up to the end. The film's opening scene of Patricia walking through poppy strewn fields assures the viewer that they are in for a treat! And there is no disappoinment in this area! The movie maybe not be in the same league as 'Jean de Florette' and 'Manon Des Source' but it is not fair to compare against those masterpieces. At least this films story is set in the same countryside and you'll be glad you did not miss this treat !

Sehr emotionaler, gefühlvoller und herzerweichender Film. Obwohl keine deutschen Untertitel vorhanden sind reichen die englischen völlig. Der Film vermittelt die Gefühle allein durch die Schauspieler, die wunderbare Musik von Alexandre Desplat (Titel: "Rendez-Vous Manqué" und "La Solitude D’Amoretti") und die traumhafte Landschaft. Wer die bei der Kapelle (Chapelle Saint-Sixte) wartende Patricia Amoretti (Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey) sieht, mit der Musikuntermahlung fühlt sofort die warme Sommerbrise und das Gefühl des "Verlassen sein". Besonders Astrid Berges Frisbey, aber auch die anderen Schauspieler hätten für diesen Film eine Auszeichnung verdient. Für jede Frau und jedes verliebte Pärchen absolut zu empfehlen!!!

I saw this movie and just loved the scenery. Everytime it came on free to air i watched it until i found where i cld purchase it. One of my favourite movies.

Loved this sweet yet sometimes sad movie,can watch it over and over.

Lovely way of improving your french, and such a great story as well.