(1990)
3.5
Mike Cummings
Based on the memoirs of author and filmmaker Marcel Pagnol (1895-1974), this 1990 motion picture reinforces a universal truth: Life's simple pleasures are the best, especially when shared with family and friends. It also proves that a modest, low-tech movie can succeed financially (the film racked up millions at the box office) as long as it focuses on the most interesting subject of all: people. Although the film recounts episodes from Pagnol's childhood, it is really about everyone's childhood -- carefree days when the world is new and each sunrise brings another adventure. After an introduction that acquaints the audience with the Pagnols and their early life in Aubagne, St. Loup, and Marseilles, the story moves to the Provençal countryside, where the family has taken a cottage for the summer vacation. Julien Ciamaca portrays 11-year-old Marcel with charm and vitality as he meanders through forest pathways or spends a quiet moment with his schoolteacher father, Joseph (Philippe Caubère), or housewife mother Augustine (Nathalie Roussel). After Marcel makes friends with a Provençal country boy named Lili des Bellons (Joris Molinas), they roam forests and fields to discover butterflies, birds, cicadas, secret caves, and the gentle warmth of a breeze. Skillful cinematography captures them in silhouette gazing toward the horizon and follows them clambering up rock faces and careering down hillsides. At dinnertime outside, the family sits at a table full of orchard-fresh fruit and other local fare as the sun dims and conversation brightens. A cross word never passes the lips of any Pagnol or their two guests, Marcel's Uncle Jules (Didier Pain) and Aunt Rose (Thérèse Liotard). Unrealistic? Sentimental? Perhaps. But nostalgia is always that way. Blind to the bad, it sees only the good. Pagnol himself had good reason to remember his childhood fondly, for his mother -- portrayed as loving and indulgent -- died when he was only 15. The shock must have made him long for those earlier days when all was right with the world. His father lived on for a long time, however, and it is he who gives Marcel -- and the audience -- one of the vacation's most memorable moments as the film moves toward its conclusion.
Trailer
releases for My Father's Glory on AllMovie
My Father's Glory (1990)
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Title/Studio |
Release Date |
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La Gloire de Mon Pere
Second Sight Films Ltd
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April 19, 2004 |
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My Father's Glory
MGM
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November 5, 2002 |
