Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Daniel Auteuil | ... | César | |
Raphaël Personnaz | ... | Marius | |
Jean-Pierre Darroussin | ... | Panisse | |
Victoire Bélézy | ... | Fanny | |
Marie-Anne Chazel | ... | Honorine | |
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Nicolas Vaude | ... | M. Brun |
Daniel Russo | ... | Escartefigue | |
Rufus | ... | Piquoiseau | |
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Jean-Louis Barcelona | ... | Frisepoulet |
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Martine Diotalevi | ... | Mme Escartefigue |
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Roger Souza | ... | Le commis |
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Laurent Fernandez | ... | Le premier marin du Coromandel |
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Charlie Nelson | ... | Le second de la Malaisie |
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Michel Ferracci | ... | Le deuxième marin du Coromandel |
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Frédéric Gérard | ... | Amourdedieu |
"Marius" takes place in Marseilles' Old Port, at the La Marine Bar, owned by César and his son Marius. Marius' biggest dream is to embark on one of the boats passing by his dad's bar and to set off to a faraway land. Fanny, a young and pretty seafood peddler, has secretly been in love with Marius since her childhood; Marius, never admitting it, has always loved Fanny. One day, a sailor drops by La Marine and offers him a job on an exploratory ship. Trying to hold him off and to make him jealous, Fanny confesses his love to him and provokes a fight between Marius and one of César's old friends, Panisse, a boat merchant, who despite his old age, has been courting Fanny for a while. Torn between the call of the sea and his love for her, Marius abandons his dream to be with Fanny who gives herself to him. As César and Honorine, Fanny's mother, are getting ready for the wedding, Marius changes his mind, drawn back to the call of the sea. Sacrificing her love, Fanny convinces Marius to ...
Sundrenched and redolent of Marseille and Southern France. A real delight but there is a slight puzzle here .... is Auteil setting this in some never-never land? The original dates from 1929, adapted for film two years later. There is no firm indication here of date at all .. the costumes hint at the 1920s or even earlier, the ships in the small port seem in fact 19th century, but characters in a café are dancing to music from the late 1950s. And over the end-titles comes the wonderful Charles Trenet singing a song he recorded in 1947! This is some amazing time-travelling... So the time and settings are all over the shop .. but the story is strong enough to withstand it. I hope the chronology gets sorted out by the time I get around to viewing Part Two, 'Fanny', of this Pagnol trilogy. It better gets sorted out fast .. I'm watching it tomorrow night.