Film Review
Le Château de ma mère,
the second part of Yves Robert's enormously popular diptych based on
the childhood memoirs of the writer and filmmaker Marcel Pagnol,
follows straight on from
La Gloire de mon père,
but is noticeably darker in tone. Marcel is no longer the
innocent little boy who is easily duped by man and nature; he stands on
the threshold of adolescence and is beginning to see the world through
an adult's eyes. He realises that not everyone is quite what they
seem to be, and that people are capable of deceit and outright cruelty,
as well as kindness. A pre-coming-of-age film,
Le Château de ma mère offers a bittersweet
account of a young boy slowly waking up to the artifices and cruel
ironies of the adult world, shedding his illusions as he makes his
first tentative steps towards adulthood.
In his books and films, Marcel Pagnol showed himself to be a very keen
observer of the human condition, and
Le
Château de ma mère,
based on the second part of his four volume autobiography, gives us
some inkling of where this particular aptitude came from. The
characters we meet in this film are obviously the inspiration for many
of those that populate his fictional work, from the good-natured
lockkeeper to the literary poseur and a decidedly nasty country
policeman (each superbly portrayed, by Philippe Uchan, Jean Rochefort
and Jean Carmet respectively). We may be inclined to reproach the
film for its caricatured approach to characterisation, but we must
remember that what we are seeing is the world through the eyes of a
12-year old boy. At that age, character traits are bound to
appear exaggerated. What this film and its predecessor are attempting
to show us is not life as it is, from a balanced adult perspective, but life as
it seems to be, from a child's point of view.
As in the first film, we share, through its stunning photography,
Marcel Pagnol's enchantment for the Provence countryside. But
this time there is a palpable impression of melancholia and a growing
feeling of loss, like an ugly strain slowly spreading across a pristine
white tablecloth. Marcel is aware of the passing of time, aware
that his childhood is slipping away, aware that he must soon become a
man and must bid farewell to his beloved countryside. In an
exquisitely poignant coda, Robert draws back the veil of time and shows
us the future tragedies that the boy Marcel has yet to cope with, the
loss of those dearest to him. The film ends with Marcel Pagnol
established as a man of the world, a successful filmmaker with the
wherewithal to purchase the very house that once tyrannised his
mother. The ferocity with which the young film director is
compelled to demolish one of the gates on the canal that had once
separated him from his weekend paradise reminds us how intensely he
clung to those childhood memories and how important they were in
providing the foundation for his art. Childhood is a garden from
which we can never truly escape, nor would ever want to. As
adults, it is the only true refuge we have, as this highly evocative
film reminds us.
© James Travers 2012
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Yves Robert film:
Le Bal des casse-pieds (1992)
Film Synopsis
After his previous summer, 11-year-old Marcel is so in love with the countryside
of Provence that he can scarcely bear to be separated from it. But
his father Joseph, a school teacher in Marseille, insists that he should
devote his thoughts to his schoolwork unless he wants to fail his impending
exams. Marcel and his younger brother Paul are beside themselves when
their parents decide that the family will spend the whole of Christmas at
the little house where they enjoyed such a memorable summer. This gives
Marcel a chance to renew his friendship with country boy Lili des Bellons.
The family returns to the region for their Easter holidays, and on this occasion
Marcel falls under the spell of a pretty little girl named Isabelle, whom
he mistakes for a real princess.
How easily does the mischievous girl make a fool of the easily deluded boy!
He is such a silly romantic! There seems to be no indignity he
will not subject himself to in his efforts to prove himself a worthy knight.
Marcel realises his mistake in the end. There are only so many humiliations
the human spirit can bear and finally he sees through Isabelle and realises
that she is no one special - just an ordinary child living in a dilapidated
old house with her impoverished father. His fanciful illusions well
and truly shattered, Marcel loses interest in female company and returns
to his first love - the mountains of Provence.
Aware of how happy his family are with their country retreat, Joseph decides
that they will from now on come here every weekend. The four kilometre
trek from their home in Marseille presents a challenge, but this obstacle
is alleviated when one of Joseph's former pupils, Bouzigue, offers him a
shortcut along a stretch of canal. This reduces the length of the journey
by two hours! Marcel and his family can hardly believe their good fortune,
but their luck runs out when an over-zealous policeman spots them and files
a complaint against Joseph which might cost him his job. Bouzigue comes
to the family's rescue, and they can continue their weekend trips to the
country undisturbed. When Marcel is a fully grown man, some years hence,
he will buy one of the grand houses that his family used to furtively slip
past every weekend - the house he now refers to as his mother's castle...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.