Who does not know the trilogy of Marcel Pagnol? Who does not know Marius and Fanny as well the novels as movie of the same author for Marius and d Allégret for Fanny? In a decadent time, full of movies of free violence, full of empty movies, a space which expresses the vain character of our century, the support on sure values is also on the agenda because it establishes an existential relief and a good recommendation for our culture. Daniel Auteuil, a Big actor of the French cinema is the director of a proofreading of Marcel Pagnol, a success of the French cinema. He thus made two movies Marius and Fanny, two masterpieces. These new versions reach the level of the movie of Pagnol and overtake well the movie of Allégret while respecting character of these novels. Fanny is clearly better than Marius. We feel an evolution at the actors who reaches the excellence. We here is thus in Marseille of between two wars a city which has its charm and heroes who have a simple and often pure character. The dialogs are dense but thanks to their simplicity are accessible to everybody; nevertheless the level is raised brought up well and their contents carry solid values, even if sometimes they seem to us outmoded. In the fact which is happier? The man of our days or the person who corresponds to the characters of Marcel Pagnol? This is not a part of our critic, but the movie can remind us these questions. As we mentioned all the actors are excellent, but we have to distinguish Daniel Auteuil and Jean-Pierre Daroussin who understood well the universe of Pagnol and who they reach the level of the perfection. Also, if in Marius we feel a defect concerning the prosody of the accent of Provence it is corrected well in this movie. The images are beautiful and their colors redraw the style of Marseille of this time. Besides, in this work, they exceed clearly those of Marius. Movies Marius and Fanny establishes a new proofreading of this work which corresponds to all that the warned spectator or not can expect from this for work. If Marius is a beautiful realization of the French cinema, Fanny is appreciably better. It is about two references of the French-speaking cinema, because Daniel Auteuil respects Pagnol by recognizing his genius and he also respects his spectators.

In the original Marseille trilogy - Marius, Alexander Korda; Fanny, Yves Allegret, and Cesar, Marcel Pagnol - the second part, Fanny, was the weakest link. This may have been due to the fact that Orane Demazis (the original Fanny on both stage and screen) was a better girl-friend (to Pagnol) than she was an actress, which was unfortunate because the second part is built around the character of Fanny. By contrast the second part of Daniel Auteuil's remake of the trilogy is light years ahead of his first part, Marius, possibly because his non-actor 'pretty- boy' Marius (Raphael Personnaz) is missing for the lion's share of the running time and the actress playing Fanny, Victoire Belezy leaves Personnaz dead in the water. Once again Marie-Anne Chazal is outstanding as Honrine but this time Auteuil throws in a great bonus in the shape of Ariane Ariscade as Claudine. This brilliant actress is, of course, the wife of Robert Guideguian and an integral part of his repertory company and so is used to acting with Jean-Pierre Darroussin in her husband's excellent Marseilles-based films so it is ironic that she as Claudine she has minimal contact with Darroussin's Panisse. In this second segment Auteuil dispenses with the gimmick's (La Mer, etc) that marred Marius and let's the fine ensemble cast get on with acting the bejeezus out of Pagnol's great humane story. Far superior to Marius and if the third segment, Cesar - which will be released next year - is as good then we are in for a real treat.

We owe Daniel Auteuil a great debt for Adapting, Directing and Acting in this little gem of a film. The story is simple. Two kids come of age in a fishing village in France, they play at love and marriage, mistaking it for a game. Then the boy leaves to follow his dream of adventure at sea, not knowing he is abandoning FANNY, pregnant with his child. Thus ensues a series of events which include: uproar in the families and the lives of friends of families, honor, duty, the foolishness of youth, the heavy wisdom of age, and customs now long gone. But these issues are still so much with us. When I go to the gym, I'm forced to glance at "Murray" the American talk show, where a bunch of screaming me-me's deal with the exact same issues: love lost and fathers found. But never with the beauty, gracefulness, depth and humanity involved in Auteuil's film. The grief of abandoned love, a child without a father or a name, the histories of they who came before who struggled with the same issues, all are revealed. The film is so full of the dreams and hopes of parents and children, that when Eros comes to take his arrows back, no one has won at the game of love at all. Only a giving remains. Auteuil took his time to tell this story, so we feel every move like the ocean of the heart. I thank him.