Le château de ma mère (1990)

Director:

Yves Robert

Writers:

Marcel Pagnol (novel)
Jérôme Tonnerre (adaptation) ...

Release Date:

September 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Biography | Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Return to childhood in Provence.

Plot:

Every holiday Marcel and his family go to their cottage in the Provence (France). He likes the hills in this region...

Plot Keywords:

Teacher | Canal | Provence France | Hill | Love

Awards:

1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Philippe Caubère	...	Joseph Pagnol
Nathalie Roussel	...	Augustine Pagnol
Didier Pain	...	Oncle Jules
Thérèse Liotard	...	Tante Rose
Julien Ciamaca	...	Marcel Pagnol
Victorien Delamare	...	Paul Pagnol
Joris Molinas	...	Lili des Bellons
Julie Timmerman	...	Isabelle Cassignole
Paul Crauchet	...	Edmond des Papillons
Philippe Uchan	...	Bouzigue
Patrick Préjean	...	Dominique, le jardinier
Pierre Maguelon	...	François
Michel Modo	...	Le facteur
Jean Carmet	...	Le garde ivrogne
Jean Rochefort	...	Loïs de Montmajour / Adolphe Cassignole

Also Known As:

My Mother's Castle (USA)

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | Germany:6 | South Korea:All | Australia:PG | Australia:G (DVD rating) | France:U | Sweden:Btl | UK:U | USA:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Aix-en-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône, France

Company:

Gaumont

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Troldspejlet: (#34.6)" (2005)

Childhood nostalgia.

Almost three decades later,Yves Robert comes back to what he does best:childhood movies."La guerre des boutons" (1962) was the first work featuring almost only brats.It was a timeless blockbuster in France and an (English or Irish) remake was made a few years ago.

Yves Robert tackles here Pagnol 's autobiographical books and transfers them to the screen with taste ,humor and magic.Magic is everywhere as Robert perfectly recreates those little simple pleasures of long ago."Le château de ma mère" is the follow-up to "La gloire de mon père".Both movies are likable,Robert showing tenderness for his characters:The enthusiastic atheist father (Philippe Caubère), the mother everybody would like to have (Nathalie Roussel),their two children ,Marcel -who would become the great director and writer- and his brother"petit Paul", the Christian uncle Jules who prays for his heathen brother-in-law,and plays the occasional Father Christmas. A lot of colorful secondary characters add to the enchantment:Lili,the little boy of the garrigue,a girlie,some kind of stuck-up thing,a noble who's a true gentleman,a wicked warden(One of Jean Carmet's last parts) who's got instructions by way of heart.

The main difference between "le château de ma mère" and the first part "la gloire de mon père" lies in the fact that the former opens the gates of life(not only the gates the father illegally opens) .The conclusion is very harsh,but Robert avoids pathos and melodrama.It does not prevent us,though,after three hours (the two movies together) in these green pastures of childhood paradise,from getting a bitter taste in the mouth.

Robert knows it:so he ends his work with a wonderful epilogue(faithful to the book) which thoroughly justifies the title.And the audience will leave the Provence,while thinking that here or elsewhere,dreams may come true.

As Pagnol wrote at the end of his book:"life is made of small pleasures and big grieves :don't you tell it to the children"