HARVEST Movie Review

Regain
La Femme du Boulanger

Itinerant scissors-grinder Gedemus (Fernandel), and his lover Arsule (Orane Demazis) come upon a rural French town that seems almost deserted—except for a single, lonely hunter named Panturle (Gabriel Gabrio).It is Panturle's belief that as long as a single person remains in this place, it is a town. Otherwise, the town—his home—will cease to exist. When Arsule goes to live with the hunter—thanks to the “generosity” of Gedemus—the cycle of life begins anew. Soon the land will be enriched with a new, self-replenishing harvest of life in every one of its many forms. Marcel Pagnol's Harvest (the French title is La Femme du Boulanger), adapted from the novel by Jean Giono, is a unique masterpiece of the French cinema; a radical yet simple bit of storytelling/mythmaking that startles audiences of every generation with its elegant, visionary power. Harvest is neither religious epic nor humanist manifesto; it is, rather, a primal and enormously moving tale of the eternal, cyclical regeneration of life and spirit that goes by many names, but never ceases. Magnificent.

NEXT STOP … The Fanny Trilogy, The Baker's Wife, Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring

1937 128m/B FR Fernandel, Gabriel Gabrio, Orane Demazis, Edouard Delmont, Henri Poupon; D:Marcel Pagnol; W:Marcel Pagnol; C:Willy; M:Arthur Honegger. New York Film Critics Awards ‘39: Best Foreign Film. VHS INT, MRV, FCT