Sightlines · reception

How Manon of the Spring was received

1986 · Claude Berri · Manon of the Spring on Sightlines

The arc

A blockbuster on release — the payoff half of Berri's Pagnol diptych that helped make 'French heritage cinema' an international export in the late '80s — and while some French critics sniffed at its middlebrow polish then, it's now comfortably beloved, usually consumed as one four-hour double bill with Jean de Florette.

What’s debated

The perennial fan debate: is Manon actually the better film, or just the delivery mechanism for the devastating payoff Jean de Florette set up?

Its footprint

The films' Verdi-derived theme and sun-baked Provence imagery were famously pastiched for years in the UK's Stella Artois 'reassuringly expensive' ads, and the diptych is regularly credited (alongside Peter Mayle) with fueling the late-'80s Anglo love affair with Provence.

Where it stands

A 'you must watch both, back to back' staple — half of one of cinema's great two-part stories, and the film that announced Emmanuelle Béart.

Did you know? Marcel Pagnol filmed Manon des Sources himself in 1952 (starring his wife Jacqueline), then expanded the story into the novels L'Eau des collines — which Berri adapted back into the two films, both shot in one marathon back-to-back production.