« 1949 Paris : hot spots 2. | HomePage | "Regain" : pull my cart. (2/5) »
Apr 23, 2008
"Regain" : intriguing. (1/5)
« Regain » (1937) is an intriguing film.
It is based on a novel by one writer, adapted, scripted, dialogued, directed and produced by another one, who will never be considered as a real filmmaker, though he was involved in more films than plays and written fiction : a Marcel Pagnol film from a Jean Giono book.
It was not the first one, it would not be the last one, as if Marcel Pagnol films from Jean Giono books were the offspring of a match made in heaven or the children of an odd couple.
Both men were born in 1895, like Michel Simon and cinema, both in Provence : Manosque for Giono, Aubagne for Pagnol.
At the end of the 1920s, « Topaze » and « Marius » suddenly turned Marcel Pagnol into France most successful playwright, while the first talking films convinced him cinema was the future of traditional theatre.
In the 1930s, Jean Giono was starting to develop a cult following. He remained based in Manosque, where he would eventually die.
There would always be a mix of admiration and envy between Giono and Pagnol, and, at the lowest point in their relationship, even a silly trial. They would later make it up.
Each one feared the other would get the upper hand in their relationship : Giono was concerned his books would be appropriated and betrayed by Pagnol, Pagnol that he would become a mere servant of Giono’s work at the expense of his own.
The original agreement by which Pagnol acquired film rights to five Giono books provided that the two writers work together on scripts and dialogues.
It never happened : both were used to solitary writing, Pagnol was based in Paris, Giono could not live away from Manosque. In the films he adapted from Giono, all scripts and dialogues were by Pagnol alone.
« Regain » is a film title few understand. Unlike « Marius », « Fanny », « César », « Jofroi » or « Angèle », two earlier Pagnol films from Giono books, « Regain » is not a character’s name.
The word, which usually describes some form of « recovery », here very specifically refers to the grass which grows again in a field after haymaking.
« Regain » is and is not a Fernandel movie : for his first film with Pagnol, the actor tops the bill, but is not the story main character.
« Regain » is a film in which the three main characters are called Arsule, Gédémus and Panturle, one woman and two men, played respectively by Orane Demazis, Fernandel and Gabriel Gabrio.
Where do these names come from ? Are they traditional Provence names ? Are they straight out of Giono’s imagination ? Did they travel from foreign lands and ancient times (Giono, like Pagnol, who would translate « Les bucoliques », loved Virgile, as well as ancient Greece) ?
08:05 Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this