The Well Digger's Daughter   Starring: Daniel Auteuil, Kad Merad, Sabine Azema and Jean Pierre Darroussin Pathé Productions RRP: £19.99 P927701000 Certificate: PG Available 20 February 2012

Prior to the First World War the French region of Provence remained a hierarchical society. Pascal Amoretti works hard as a well digger to bring up his five daughters, following the death of his wife. The light of his life, Patricia, has worked hard to take the place of her mother, but at eighteen she is turning into a young woman. On the way to bring her father his lunch, she encounters Jacques Mazel, the son of the local store owner and a class above her. Within the course of two meetings Patricia falls in love with the boy and falls pregnant. Jacques, unaware of her condition is sent off to war, the letter he wrote destroyed by his mother. Before Patricia’s condition becomes evident she is sent away by her father. Having lost her family, she learns that Jacques has been killed in the war...

The Well Keepers Daughter (2011 - 1 hr, 44 min, 43 sec) is a historical drama/love story directed by Daniel Auteuil, who is normally known as a highly respected French actor. Here in his first directorial stint, he not only stars in the film, but also adapted Marcel Pagnol’s original novel. Alexandre Desplat (The King's Speech, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part’s 1 & 2) picked up an award for the soundtrack.

The premise makes the film sound like it’s a bit heavy going, in truth there is a lot of humour in the film, which is conveyed surprisingly well in the English subtitles.

Daniel Auteuil plays Pascal as a man who has a lot of love and warmth to give but he obviously has problems in communicating with his daughters. He will often offer to cuff them around the head when they disagree with him. The behaviour isn’t misogyny, so much as the rough and tumble interactions which he would have expected to have with a son. For all of his bluff his powerlessness is highlighted when he goes to meet his sister, who is having none of it and rides right over his rough exterior.

Of course, his main concern is to make sure that his daughters marry well, especially Patricia (Astrid Bergès-Frisbey), freshly returned to the family and naive where men are concerned. Her short lived affair with Jacques is borne out of love. Being very beautiful, she is courted by another, in the form of Félipe Rambert (Kad Merad) the kind hearted employee of Pascal. There is a thread through the film with Félipe longing after Patricia, when all the time her sister, Amanda (Emilie Cazenave), is obviously the best match for him, not least because she is obviously already in love with him.

Whilst, the film has a happy ending, its journey will take you through heartache, humour and happiness. It is a rich journey well worth taking. The cinematography in the film is as sumptuous as the countryside, in fact the whole film is visually arresting. The acting superb. The film does not miss a single beat.

With such a good movie it’s a shame that the only extra you get is the theatrical trailer. Although it is not particularly useful comparing films, anyone who watched and enjoyed Jean de Florette (1986) will find themselves in the very familiar social milieu of southern French society. The two films both have family and its meaning at its heart.

I’m not really sure what more you could ask from a film with an excellent cast, great script and confident direction. If you’re not put off by subtitles, this really is a film you should check out.

8

Charles Packer