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Marcel Pagnol (1895-1974) |
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French film director and playwright, founder of the magazines Les Cahiers du Sud and Les Cahiers du Film, the first filmmaker elected to the Académie France. Marcel Pagnol is perhaps best-known for his Marseille trilogy – Marius (perf. 1929), Fanny (perf. 1931, pub. 1932) and César (1936, pub. 1937) – the last part of which was first made into a film and not reworked into play until 1946. An American musical adaptation of the entire cycle was produced as Fanny in 1955. "The dramatist's style lies in his choice of characters, in the feelings he gives them, in the development of the plot. His personal position is modest one: he must hold his tongue! As soon as he wants to make his own voice heard, the dramatic movement stops. He mustn't leave his place in the wings; his opinions, when expressed by himself, are of no concern to us. His actors speak to us for him, and they impose his thoughts and emotions on us by making us believe they are ours." (from My Father's Glory; 'Preface,' My Father's Glory and My Mother's Castle: Memories of Childhood by Marcel Pagnol, translated by Rita Basisse, with a foreword by Alice Waters, New York: North Point Press, 1995, p. 9; originally published in French as two volumes, La Gloire de mon père, 1957, and Le Château de ma mère, 1958) Marcel Pagnol was born in Aubagne, the son of Joseph Pagnol, a teacher, and Augustine Lansot, a seamstress. The family descended from Spanish swordsmiths who had fled from Toledo during the Inquisition. When Pagnol was three, the family moved to Saint-Loup near Marseilles, where his father was appointed as a regular teacher at the school in the Chemin des Chartreux, the biggest elementary school in Marseilles. Pagnol grew up in Marseille with his younger brothers Paul, René, and younger sister Germaine. He learned to read at an early age, but until the age of six he was not allowed to open a book, "for fear of cerebral explosion," as his mother believed could happen. His first play Pagnol wrote for a local group when he was only 15. While studying at the University of Aix-en-Provence, he helped found a student literary magazine, Fantasio, in 1913. Renamed Les cahiers du Sud, it was to become one of the most influential literary magazines of the century. The magazine published Pagnol's early poetry, a novel, La Petite Fille aux yeux sombres (1921, The Little Girl With The Dark Eyes), and his play Catulle (1922). In the footsteps of his father, Pagnol worked as an English teacher at various secondary schools at Pamiers, Aix-en-Provence, and Marseilles. With his close friend Léon Voltera, who owned Théâtre de Paris, he visited Casino de Paris to find a suitable wife from the dance girls. Pagnol's dramas and films often dealt with the theme of the unmarried mother and the illegitimate child, but basically he did not challenge patriarchal norms and clichés of his times. In 1916, Pagnol married his first wife Simone Collin; they had two sons and a daughter. Pagnol was separated from Simone since 1926; she was very religious and did not want a divorce. When Pagnol was assigned in 1922 to a school in Paris, he abandoned his teaching post at the famous Lycée Condorcet and devoted himself to writing plays. "Paris, which I imagined as an anthill in the rain, scared me," he once said. Together with Paul Nivoix, a Marseillais friend, Pagnol wrote the play Les Mechands de Gloire (1924, Merchants of Glory), a satire on civilian profiteers who exploit the heroism of soldiers, which gained a small success. It was followed by Jazz (1926), first performed in the Grand Théâtre of Monte Carlo and then in Paris at the Théâtre des Arts, with Orane Demazis, Pierre Blanchard and Harry Baur in the major roles. Pagnol's international reputation was established with Topaze (1928). This examination of a naïve schoolteacher dominated by desire for money has been filmed several times. First staged in Paris, Théâtre des Variétés, October 11, 1928, it ran there for two years. "I heard Molière and Marivaux applaud in the background," said one critic. In the story Topaze loses his teaching position when he do not raise the grades of one of his wealthy students. He finds work as tutor in the home of Suzy Courtois, the mistress of a dishonest local politician Régis Castel-Bénac. Topaze is cheated to sign an obscure business paper, one of Régis's deals, but is persuaded to remain silent. Since the business is legally in Topaze's name, he decides to run it for his own profit. Suzy starts to admire him: cynicism is the only attitude possible in the world ruled by money. In 1923, Pagnol met Orane Demazis (real name Marie-Louise Burgard); they had a son in 1933 and parted ways soon after. Orane played the role of Cécile in Jazz. With Kitty Murphy, a young English dancer, Pagnol had a son in 1930. Yvonne Pouperon, who worked for his studios, gave him a daughter. During the war years, Pagnol lived for some time with Josette Day in La Buzine, a small 19th-century mansion, which he had bought in 1941. Josette played with Raimu and Fernandel in La fille du puisatier (1940, The Well-Digger's Daughter). After divorce Pagnol re-married in 1945 the actress Jacqueline Bouvier; they had two children together, Frédérick (born 1946) and Estelle, who died at the age of two. Pagnol saw his first talking picture in 1930 and stated
polemically
some years
later that the cinema should confine itself to photographing theater:
"The talkie is the art of recording, of fixing, and of diffusing
theater." (The
Classic French Cinema, 1930–1960 by C. G. Crisp, Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, 1993, p. 286) But he
also understood the potentialities of the cinema: a new field
is opening up for the
playwrights. After gaining success with his theatrical works, Pagnol set up
for his second film his
own production company, La société des films Marcel Pagnol,
releasing films through Gaumont. He bought his own
Philips sound truck, which made it possible that Jofroi (1933) and Angéle (1934)
were shot on location in Provence. In 1934 Pagnol build a studio in the
Eastern suburb of Marseilles, with RCA sound and Debrie cameras. In
addition to adapting his own plays and screenplays to the screen,
Pagnol made films based on texts by two other Provence writers. From
Jean Giono's novels he made three movies: Angèle (1934),
based on Un de Baumugnes, Regain (1937), and La
Femme du boulanger (1938, The Baker's Wife), starring the
legandary actor Raimu. Adapted from Jean le Bleu, it
received an American Oscar for best foreign film. The lady of the
title, played by Ginette Leclerc, has gone off with a young
man. Her husband, a baker, played by Raimu, goes on strike.
When his wife returns home, he forgives her. The role of the
baker's wife was first offered to the American actress Joan Crawford,
who could not speak French. Orson Welles expressed his admiration of
the film in an interview: "Take a picture that has become a classic, and deservedly so: La Femme du Boulanger. What have you got there? Bad photography, inadequate cutting and a
lot of happenings which are told instead of shown. But there is a story
and an actor—both superb—which makes it a perfect movie." ('Interview with Welles' by Francis Koval, Sight and Sound, December 1950, Orson Welles: Interviews, edited by Mark W. Estrin, Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2002, p. 31) Pagnol often cooperated in film projects, which were directed
by others, including Alexander Korda's Marius (1930), Marc
Allégret's Fanny (1932), Louis Gasnier's Topaze (1932;
second version in 1933, directed by Harry d'Abbabie d'Arrast, script by
Ben Hecht; third film adaptation in
1961, directed by Peter Sellers), James Whale's Port of Seven Seas
(1938, based on Fanny, script by Preston Sturges), and Joshua
Logan's Fanny (1961). Already
in the early 1930s, Universal Pictures, a major Hollywood film studio, had acquired the
rights to make an English version of Fanny. Carl Laemmle Jr. made it his pet project. "CÉSAR: You know, Marius, a woman's honor is like a match. You can use it once." (Charles Boyer in Fanny, directed by Joshua Logan, 1961; https://www.scripts.com/script/fanny_7993/4. Accessed 1 July 2025) Preston Sturges's script was faithful to the spirit of the story, but he also had to bring it within censorship requirements. In the story a woman marries one man while pregnant with another man's child. Pagnol become worried and asked questions about ownership of the rights. And the director William Wyler had problems in finding the right actor to play César, the male lead. Henry Henigson continued with the film project and triend to arrange a deal with Ernst Lubitsch, without success. Later Wyler tried to buy Fanny from Pagnol but the film was not made until Joshua Logan produced and directed it, starring Leslie Caron, Maurice Chevalier and Charles Boyer. Jacques Demy borrowed the basic plot of Fanny for his musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964); the character of César was eliminated and the story was set in the context of the Algerian war. Claude Berri's films Jean de Florette (1986) and Manon des Sources were successful film adaptations of Pagnol's Provencal family story, dealing with creed, betrayal, and revenge. Gerard Depardieu played a hunchback, Jean de Florette, who has inherited a farm. His wealthy neighbors, Papet (Yves Montand) and Ugolin, his nephew (Daniel Auteuil, plot against Jean. In the second part of the story Ugolin falls in love with Manon (Emmanuelle Beart) who is Jean's daughter. While Pagnol was making La
fille du puisatier in
Nice, the German army conquered France. Pagnol accommodated to
varying degreees the demands of the Vichy regime. The film, which
premiered in Paris in the occupied zone in April 1941, had a huge
audience. Much of the debate surrounding it is concerned with the
question whether it is a "Petainist film" or not. ('Marcel
Pagnol, Vichy and Classical French Cinema' by Ginette Vincendeau, Studies in French Cinema, Vol. 9,
No. 1, March 2009, p. 10) Following the
liberation of France, Marshal Pétain's radio announcement of the end of
hostilities in the film was replaced by General de Gaulle's radio
speech. This version was warmly welcomed by British and American
audiences after the war, but in France it was said, that Pagnol
had told this particular story too often – about a pregnant girl and
her angry father. Daniel Auteuil's new version of The Well-Digger's Daughter from 2011 received mostly good reviews. "You will need a slightly sweet tooth for this movie, as the ending is a little saccharine – but it is well made and well acted throughout." ('The Well Digger's Daughter – review' by Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, December 8, 2011) Pagnol was primarily concerned with a poetic or picturesque interpretation of what is real. He wrote with affection about the people of Provence, their dreams and their fears. In his film he used natural settings of the city, harbor, and the countryside as a background. His Marseilles trilogy in particular illustrated the temperament typical of the south of France. The story is set against the colorful milieu of the Vieux Port, Old Port, of Marseilles. Marius has always dreamed of "far islands beneath the wind" and leaves Fanny to go to sea. When he returns, Fanny has married the elderly and kindly Panisse, for the sake of her and Marius' child, César. Twenty years later, after the death of Panisse, Marius and Fanny are reunited by their son. After the war Pagnol made La Belle Meunière
(1948), based on the life of Franz Schubert, and some other productions
at his modern studios near Marseilles. La Belle Meunière(The
Pretty Miller Girl) was the only feature film during his career
that was shot in colour. Tino Rossi played the German composer, who has
a romance with a watermiller's daughter, played by Pagnol's wife
Jacqueline. Made in the French Rouxcolor process, the film was backed
by an enormous
advertising campaign to promote the benefits of the new colour system,
which had been invented by the brothers Armand and Lucien Roux.
Originally the production was made in black and white, but when Pagnol
saw Armand Roux's demonstration footage, he completely re-shot the
film. In 1946, Pagnol was elected to the French Academy. Manon des sources and Jean de Florette were written into a novel entitled L'Eau des Collines (1963, The Water of the Hills). From Alphonse Daudet's (1840-1897) Lettres de mon moulin Pagnol chose three episodes for a film (1954). With Daudet he also shared delight in windmills. He even acquired one at Ignières (Normandy) in the 1920s a, living there with Kitty Murphy. During the heyday of the politique d'auteurs, the so-called auteur theory, young filmmaker rejected established criteria of cinematic merit, and among others Pagnol's work, which they considered cinematically barren. One of their heroes was Jean Renoir, who had directed for Pagnol some scenes in the 1930s. Pagnol had helped Renoir with dialogue – it was the strongest element in his films. Pagnol's later plays include Judas (1955), which ran successfully until Raymond Pellegrin in the role of Judas was stricken with appendicitis and the play stopped. Fabien (1956) was a cynical account of Parisian mores. Pagnol's autobiography, Souvenirs d'enfance (4 vols.), was published in 1957-77. The first volume, La Gloire de mon père (My Father's Glory), was a praise of the author's father. The good-humored story tells about Joseph Pagnol and his arrogant brother-in-law, Jules, who rent a summer cottage and go hunting. In this trip the young Marcel witnesses his father's victory over Jules. Le Château de ma mère (1958, My Mother's Castle) continued Pagnol's memoirs. The books were later filmed by Yves Robert. In the third volume Pagnol wrote about his school years and summer vacations. The final volume, Le Temps des Amours (1977, The Time of Love), was left unfinished, and appeared posthumously. Marcel Pagnol died in Paris on April 18, 1974. For further reading: Marcel Pagnol: autant en emporte la gloire by Jean-Jacques Jelot-Blanc (2024); Dans l'univers littéraire de Marcel Pagnol: biographie d'une œuvre populaire by Christophe Chabbert (2023); Albert Cohen-Marcel Pagnol: une amitié solaire by Dane Cuypers; préface de Thierry Fabre (2020); Marcel Pagnol, classique-populaire: réflexions sur les valeurs d'une œuvre intermédiale by Marion Brun (2019); Marcel Pagnol, un autre regard by Karin Hann (2014); The Literature of Provence: An Introduction by Daniel Vitaglione (2000); 'Pagnol, Marcel,' in Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th Century, Vol. 3, ed. by Steven R. Serafin (1999); Pagnol's Provence by Julian More and Carey More (1996); Il était une fois Marce Pagnol by Raymond Castans (1978); Marcel Pagnol by C. E. J. Caldicott (1977); Marcel Pagnol, enfant d'Aubagne et de la Treille by Georges Berni (1975); Marcel Pagnol by Claude Beylie (1974); Le jardin de Pagnol by Louis Combaluzier (1937) - Note: Claude Berri's films Jean de Florette (1986) starring Yves Montand, Gerard Depardieu, Daniel Auteil, and Manon des Sources (1987), starring Yves Montand, Daniel Auteuil, Emmanuelle Beart, were based on Pagnol's portrayals of Provence. Selected works (films, plays, autobiographical works, screenplays):
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