Word: montand
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Jean de Florette, set in the 1920s, described the attempt of the clever Papet (Yves Montand) and his dim-witted nephew Ugolin (Daniel Auteuil)--the last remaining members of what used to be the richest and most glorious family in the region--to wrest the land of a neighboring farmer, a hunchback...
...MONTAND IS a vivid old rascal. He is protective of the family fortune, telling Ugolin that it was only by careful economy that he had managed to save what was left of the money his ancestors squandered. With his broad hat and cane, Montand is the essence of the country gentleman. Except that he's always scheming. Scheming to save his money, enlarge his property, control the town, and marry off his nephew. But his schemes don't always work out as he expects...
Shrewd, grasping, rich old Cesar Soubeyran (Yves Montand) and his simpleton nephew Ugolin (Daniel Auteuil) covet their neighbor's land. Each has his reasons, but they are not good enough. Not enough, that is, to justify their terrible plot to force the decent, innocent newcomer known as Jean de Florette (Gerard Depardieu), his patient wife and lovely child to sell their holdings at a distressed price. The Soubeyrans' idea is simple: stop up the neighbor's spring. But the execution is grim and protracted; the plotters stand by, offering sympathy but no practical assistance as Jean descends first to exhaustion...
...Take Montand's Cesar, for example. His stride, his gesture, his voice bespeak implacable authority. Even his mustache reinforces the message. It is not the adornment of routine villainy, crimped and primped, but an ample, well-rooted assertion of masculine self-sufficiency, of immunity to the judgments of common men. He possesses himself as confidently as he grasps his wealth and standing in the community. His antagonist Jean has toiled since birth under the curse of a hunchback. He knows all about burdens, yet his endurance under new ones is almost unbearable to witness. When at last he cracks...
...Montand might as well have said that Ripple had been designated the official French wine, for the Palais audience immediately erupted in derisive whistles and howls. Catherine Deneuve, who presented the award, pleaded futilely for the mob to give the director a chance to defend his honor. But the catcalls delighted Pialat. "If you don't like me," he proclaimed, "I can tell you, I don't like you either." He smiled and raised a defiant fist. More boos, more hoots. Somebody spat at him. PALME D'OR SCANDALE A CANNES, screamed the next day's papers...