Fanny (1932)

After Fanny's boyfriend leaves her and sails away, she finds out she's pregnant.

Director:

Marc Allégret

Writers:

Marcel Pagnol (play), Marcel Pagnol (screenplay)

Stars:

Raimu, Pierre Fresnay, Fernand Charpin

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Raimu	...	César
Pierre Fresnay	...	Marius
Orane Demazis	...	Fanny
Fernand Charpin	...	Honore Panisse (as Charpin)
Auguste Mouriès	...	Félix Escartefigue (as Mouriès)
Robert Vattier	...	Albert Brun (as Vattier)
Marcel Maupi	...	Innocent Mangiapan chauffeur du ferry-boat (as Maupi)
Alida Rouffe	...	Honorine Cabanis
Milly Mathis	...	Tante Claudine Foulon
Odette Roger	...	Fortunette
Louis Boulle	...	Elzéar

Storyline

Marius has left, signed up for a five year hitch on a ship bound for the Indian Ocean. In his few letters to his father César, he hardly mentions Fanny. When she finds she is pregnant, she considers her options: suicide, to raise the child on her own, to wait for Marius, or to marry Honoré Panisse, the older merchant who seeks her hand. These choices are emotional: to raise a bastard, to trust in Marius' eventual return, to believe he'll want to marry her, to save her mother from shame, to fool Panisse, to give her child a name. In scenes dramatizing Fanny's honesty, she talks to her mother, then Panisse, César, and later Marius, and she makes her choices.

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Plot Keywords:

france | marseille france | group of friends | pregnant bride | marseille | 

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Taglines:

Marcel Pagnol's Most Distinguished Masterpiece

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film is part of the Criterion Collection, spine #883.

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Connections

Followed by César (1936)

User Reviews

A Quiet Masterpiece From A Time Long Gone

If you can get by the first fifteen minutes, get into the leisurely pacing and that fact that nothing is going to explode and no one shoots anybody or stabs anyone in the eye, and the film is about learning to live with other human beings, about being a parent, about falling and staying in love, perhaps you'll come to love this film, too.

The trilogy is set in another time long gone--Marseilles, a provincial fishing village, where Cesar and his son operate a sort of bar where locals drift in and out and play cards; a pretty young woman sells seafood outside, and she's known son Marius since they were children. Enough said: except that the acting is amazingly naturalistic for a 1930's film, that the performance by famed French entertainer Raimu is beyond words, is simply astounding in his range of emotions, his understanding of the human condition. This understated drama is a quiet masterpiece.

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

12 February 1948 (USA)

Also Known As:

Фанни

Filming Locations:

Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$7,720, 8 January 2017

Gross USA:

$8,262

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$8,262

Company Credits

Production Co:

Les Films Marcel Pagnol, Les Établissements Braunberger-Richebé

Technical Specs

Runtime:

140 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1