Daniel Auteuil stars in and directs the likable if broad melodrama “The Well Digger’s Daughter,” a remake of Marcel Pagnol’s 1940 film of the same name. Auteuil (from many films by André Téchiné as well as “Caché”), no stranger to the work of the writer-filmmaker, starred in both of Claude Berri’s Pagnol adaptations, “Jean de Florette” and “Manon des Sources” (both 1986). Class struggle creases the Provençal countryside in pre-World War II France as a girl’s pregnancy roils the seemingly placid community. Scored by the near-ubiquitous Alexandre Desplat, with soothingly pastoral photography by Jean-François Robin. With Astrid Berges-Frisbey, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Sabine Azéma, Nicolas Duvauchelle. 105m. (Ray Pride)
“The Well-Digger’s Daughter” opens Friday at the Music Box.
Ray Pride is Newcity’s Senior Editor and Film Critic. He is a contributing editor of Filmmaker magazine.
Ray’s history of Chicago Ghost Signs is planned for publication next year. Previews of the project are on Twitter and on Instagram. More photography on Instagram.
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Daniel Auteuil stars in and directs the likable if broad melodrama “The Well Digger’s Daughter,” a remake of Marcel Pagnol’s 1940 film of the same name. Auteuil (from many films by André Téchiné as well as “Caché”), no stranger to the work of the writer-filmmaker, starred in both of Claude Berri’s Pagnol adaptations, “Jean de Florette” and “Manon des Sources” (both 1986). Class struggle creases the Provençal countryside in pre-World War II France as a girl’s pregnancy roils the seemingly placid community. Scored by the near-ubiquitous Alexandre Desplat, with soothingly pastoral photography by Jean-François Robin. With Astrid Berges-Frisbey, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Sabine Azéma, Nicolas Duvauchelle. 105m. (Ray Pride)
