A beautiful but shy shepherdess plots vengeance on the men whose greedy conspiracy to acquire her father's land caused his death years earlier.A beautiful but shy shepherdess plots vengeance on the men whose greedy conspiracy to acquire her father's land caused his death years earlier.A beautiful but shy shepherdess plots vengeance on the men whose greedy conspiracy to acquire her father's land caused his death years earlier.
- Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award
- 4 wins & 3 nominations total
- Manon
- (as Emmanuelle Beart)
- Le Spécialiste
- (as Tiki Olgado)
- Pamphile
- (as Andre Dupon)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaYves Montand was raised in the area where the story takes place and had been a friend of Marcel Pagnol. Nevertheless he rejected the role when it was first offered. Montand was ultimately persuaded to take his role by wife Simone Signoret, who died during production.
- GoofsWhen Manon visits her father's grave, a gravestone falls over on the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.
- Quotes
[last lines]
[dialog in French, lines from English subtitles]
Cesar Soubeyran: [voiceover] Dear little Manon, the notary will tell you that I'm leaving you my whole estate. It may surprise you, but it's the truth. The lawyer will give you all the documents because your father was my son. He was the Soubeyran I'd hoped for all my life, whom I tormented to death because I didn't know who he was. If I had told him about the spring, he'd still be playing his harmonica, and you'd all be living in our family home. No one knows it, but I'm too ashamed to face anyone, even the trees. In the village, there's a person who knows. She will tell you everything. It's Delphine, the old blind woman. She'll explain that it's all because of Africa. I don't deserve to kiss you, and I never dared speak to you, but maybe now you can forgive me and even say a little prayer for poor Ugolin and me. I'm so pathetic, I even pity myself. Out of sheer spite, I never went near him. I never knew his voice or his face. I never saw his eyes, which might have been like his mother's. I only saw his hump and the pain I caused him. Now you understand why I want to die, because next to my torments, even hell would be a pleasure. Besides, I'll see him up there. I'm not afraid of him. Now he knows he's a Soubeyran. He's no longer a hunchback because of me. He knows it was all a foolish mistake. I'm sure that instead of blaming me, he'll defend me. Farewell, my darling girl. Your grandfather, César Soubeyran.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Siskel & Ebert: The Duxorcist/Walker/Manon of the Spring/The Dead (1987)
Almost nothing can be said safely about Manon without giving away the overall plot or this or that twist or turn. Suffice to explain that Jean concerns an urbanite hunchback who relocates to the Provencal countryside with his wife and daughter, intent on raising rabbits. Manon picks up some years after the Jean conclusion, with the daughter having grown to young womanhood. (More prudish prospective viewers need to know that this will be explicitly evident.)
This is superb movie-making. Other reviewers accurately call it a masterpiece. The story line dominates, not the acting. Even so, Yves Montand continues his excellent performance from Jean, and Daniel Auteuil as the unsightly nephew is more impressive after one sees him clean-cut and sophisticate in something like Un Coeur en Hiver (1992). Emmanuelle Beart and Hipployte Girardot say very little, yet it doesn't detract from their respective essential portrayals. Anyone who becomes a Beart fan is advised to rent Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud (1995).
The two movies, prequel and sequel, work as a team. By virtue of its powerful denouement, however, Manon of the Spring is the standout of the pair. For the same reason, in my opinion, it is one of the very best films of the 1980s.
- Chris_Middlebrow
- Sep 7, 2001
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Manons Rache
- Filming locations
- Mirabeau, Vaucluse, France(town centre and fountain)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $3,940,542
- Gross worldwide
- $3,940,542
- Runtime1 hour 53 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
Contribute to this page
