The village in which most of the action takes place was to be a real one; but Pagnol had to give up on his plans and had a village in ruins built ,not very far from his studios of Marseille where his team could carry on with the work in case of inclement weather.
Third adaptation of pacifist writer Giono for the screen by Pagnol , it has aged better than "Angèle": it 's even modern nay daring: although Panturle and Arsule live together ,and they are on the family way , there is never a single hint at a marriage !
This is really a renaissance ,from a dying place where only three inhabitants are still leaving -the old mom ,after cursing Virgin Mary ,leaves the village near decay to look for a wife for his son,but she dies along the way - .
It's not the umpteenth version of the return to the land : it's the will to stay on this good old earth ;leaving the land is a heartrending experience for the old blacksmith,who,because of his old age ,must come back to his son (and his petulant daughter-in-law) ,and soon will suffer an attack who leaves him paralysed .
Arsule ,the woman , will be the salvation :first a knife-grinder's companion , she's treated like a beast of burden ; Fernandel ,cast against type , is par excellence the macho :later he will "sell " her like a donkey (because she pulls his handcart ).
Arsule's metamorphosis is extraordinary when she meets Panturle ; lovingly filmed by her then-lover director ,Orane Demazis turns from a tentative unassuming unattractive gal to a beaming headstrong woman .
Not only Arsule will help her partner grow wheat ,but a future birth becomes a symbol for the revival of the village ; Arthur Honegger's music sounds like a symphony , which enhances the final scenes .
Often filmed on location in Pagnol' s dear Provence , one finds one of the director's recurrent themes:sympathy for the forgotten ones, the outcasts : the supervisor in "Merlusse ", the hunchback in " Angèle" , the heroine and Jean in "Manon Des Sources " ...
It should be pointed out that ,although Fernandel is at the top of the bill, the real star is Gabriel Gabrio as Panturle, a lifetime's role.
And to conclude ,let's note that mutual aid is prominent (the seeds which will allow the harvest) .
