FRENCH JOURNEY - PROGRAMME 1

CHAÎNE DE L'ETOILE - MARCEL PAGNOL

Marcel Pagnol, the best-loved of the Midi's writers, spent his childhood in these hills near Marseille.  They later became the inspiration and setting for his work.  The village of La Treille is real Pagnol territory. There aren’t many people still alive who knew him, but Henri Daries certainly did. The films Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources - both based on Pagnol’s work - featured this famous fountain.

Henri Daries:  Here's the spring. Manon's spring

Wendy:  The real spring?

Henri Daries:  The real spring. Pagnol made his film version here.

As well as being a wonderful storyteller, Pagnol was also a film-maker in his own right. This restaurant - Le Cigalon - is a shrine to the man and his films.

Henri Daries:  Oh, yes. Besides, he worked with people from around here...  He'd found a young man...

Pagnol began his directing career in the 30s and made 16 films, all about the lives and loves of Provencal people. As a teenager Henri hero-worshipped Pagnol and wrote asking if he could work with him.  To his great surprise, Pagnol took him on as a camera assistant.  Pagnol had some big ideas - to create a film industry which would rival Paris, even Hollywood.  But even though these ideas came to nothing, Pagnol made some great films.  The settings can still be seen - like the abandoned village where Henri worked with Pagnol sixty years ago.  It's called Aubignane.

Wendy:  How did you manage to build a village here?

Henri Daries:  Of course there were a few problems Tracks had to be made, there weren't any tracks.  We had to blow up the rocks, then make the tracks passable.  The village was built little by little.  There was a church, there was a baker's, there was Panturle's house.  Everything you'd find in a village.

In the film Regain, the village of Aubignane is background to one of Pagnol's favourite topics - the depopulation of the countryside. Everybody leaves the village, but Panturle and his wife Arsule refuse to leave. Full of optimism, the couple decide - despite all advice against it - to earn a living growing wheat.

Actress:  Wheat!
Actor:  Yes!  Wheat, it's beautiful.  I'm going to sow it once I've finished work. 

The following autumn they sell their first harvest at the local market. No-one could believe it!

Actor 1:  Good gracious!
Actor 2:  My wife likes good bread

Their success inspires other people to return to the village to work on the soil. It must have been extremely hard to work on these arid hills in the thirties.

Wendy:  What was Pagnol like at work?

Henri Daries:  The same as he always was.  A charming man.  You see, we don't have water here.  It has to be brought up.  Every morning the cook would come with a container of water as fresh as possible straight from the spring, which we kept for the pastis.  And when we were a bit peckish we'd have a pastis, playboules, then get back to work.  Work and play were the same. We had work to do, we knew that but we did it with joy.

The last scene in Regain takes place in the fields below the village. Panturle and Arsule sow their new harvest.

Panturle:  Tell me what's wrong?
Arsule:  Nothing, don't worry
Panturle:  Falling and looking pale is nothing?  How do you feel?

Arsule:  It's nothing. On the contrary...
Panturle:  On the contrary?  Let me see.  But you're not this fat...
Arsule:  No. Now you know

A nice ending a la Pagnol. In 1946 Marcel Pagnol was elected Member of the Académie Française - a well-deserved honour for a writer and film-maker who knew so well how to capture the soul of Provence.

Henri Daries:  Provencal people appear very jovial but in fact they're very sensitive and serious.  Pagnol reflects these people, because he's from Provence.  He had a style of writing which reached everyone, beautiful writing and he put across the soul of the region and its people.

Copyright BBC 2000.