The Well-Diggers Daughter - French Film Festival  CTC

Rating CTC

Release DateTuesday, 20 March 2012

Length 1hrs 47min

Main Cast Daniel Auteuil, Kad Merad, Sabine Azéma, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Astrid Berges-Frisbey, Nicolas Duvauchelle

Movie DirectorDaniel Auteuil

DistributorFrench Film Festival

Daniel Auteuil makes his directing debut with this remake of Marcel Pagnol’s 1940 film of the same name.

It’s the beginning of the Second World War. Patricia (Astrid Berges-Frisbey) is young, beautiful and the apple of her adoring father’s eye. A chance encounter with Jacques Mazel (Nicolas Duvauchelle), a seductive and handsome pilot from a bourgeois family, leads to a fleeting romance. They meet but twice. No sooner have the pair fallen in love is Jacques sent off to fight in the war, leaving Patricia behind – and pregnant.

A rift erupts between Patricia and her father (Daniel Auteuil) and the Mazels refuse to acknowledge their grandchild, having no desire for their superior genes to intermix with those of a lesser class. But what will happen when Jacques is reported missing? Will compassion triumph in the end?

The classic cinematography evokes the nostalgia of a bygone era, and the enchanting vistas of the south of France are as mesmerizing as the story itself. This is drama at its most beautiful.

“A finely acted tale of love and class” - Hollywood Reporter