Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Pascale Audret | ... | Hortense | |
Charles Blavette | ... | L'oncle Simon | |
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Henri Arius | ... | L'oncle de Cavaillon |
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Odette Barencey | ... | Joséphine (as Odette Barancey) |
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Jean Clarens | ... | Le notaire |
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Hélène Gerber | ... | La femme d'Elie |
Harry-Max | ... | Le juge de paix | |
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Hubert de Lapparent | ... | Elie - un cultivateur |
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Robert Lombard | ... | Le cousin de Rochebrune |
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Pierre Moncorbier | ... | L'oncle vigneron |
Jean Panisse | ... | Le boucher | |
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Maurice Sarfati | ... | Le cousin de Cavaillon |
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Jean-Marie Serreau | ... | Le Jéhovah de Perthuis |
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Madeleine Sylvain | ... | La bouchère (as Madeleine Silvain) |
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Arlette Thomas | ... | La femme de Dabisse |
Old Félix, a prosperous land owner in Haute Provence, will be expropriated because a dam is being built on the River Durance and his estate is to be flooded. He receives thirty million francs in compensation but dies soon after. Hortense, his only daughter, inherits the money but the trouble is that Félix has hidden the loot somewhere and it is nowhere to be found. All of Hortense's next of kin suddenly take an interest in the "poor orphan" and those greedy ones - with the exception of kind-hearted uncle Simon - put pressure on the girl, and try - through wile, threat and even murder, to inveigle her inheritance. But however young and frail Hortense is, she is nobody's fool. Written by Guy Bellinger
Today,French people mainly remember Guy Béart's (Emmanuelle's father) eponymous ballad which was a big hit circa 1959.Few people still know that it's the song from a movie (I don't even remember if you hear the sung version in the movie anyway).
Based on a Jean Giono novel ,a pacifist writer from Provence,it's not as gripping as the made-for-TV "the deserter" .The screenplay is rather derivative : the orphan girl versus greedy relatives.Pascale Audret ,who was Hughes Aufray's sister -He was a famous French singer , the first to cover Dylan's songs there-has charm and talent going for her and there are the lovely landscapes and and even ecological concern.