Summary
Several years have passed since the marriage of Fanny and Panisse. After the death
of Panisse, Fanny tells her son, Césariot, that his real father is Marius, who
left Marseilles twenty years ago to travel the world and who is now living alone in a
nearby town. The café-owner César sets about trying to reunite
Fanny, Marius and their son...
Review
The final instalment in Marcel Pagnol’s famous romantic trilogy provides a fitting conclusion
to a remarkable and entertaining series of films. Raimu gives one of his best screen
performances as the film’s central character, the café owner César, capable
supported by Pagnol’s familiar troupe which includes Pierre Fresnay, Orane Demazis and
Fernand Charpin.
Ironically, César was the only film in the trilogy to be made on film before being
performed on stage (it was also the only one to be directed by Pagnol himself).
This reflected Pagnol’s own view that cinema had overtaken the theatre as the primary
medium for dramatic art.
© James Travers 2001
|
