Jean de Florette (1986)

In the mid-1920s, in a fictional little village in Provence, lost among the scrubland, Ugolin returns from military service wearing a cape and a mountain infantryman’s beret. The young farmer has one aim: to make money growing carnations. His uncle, César Soubeyran, known as “Papet,” is an old bachelor, ready to do anything to ensure his nephew succeeds and gets married, so that his name will be passed on; Ugolin is his sole heir. To achieve these plans, they need a spring on their land, an extremely valuable asset. The Romarins farm would be ideal. Papet then offers to buy the farm from its owner, Marius Camoins, nicknamed Pique-Bouffigue. But the discussion turns ugly, and Pique-Bouffigue, knocked to the ground by Papet, dies after hitting his head on a stone. To buy the farm and the land containing the spring for a low price, Ugolin and Papet block the spring with cement. Without water, the property is worth very little. But one day the heir to the property and farm arrives with his wife and daughter to settle there. He is hunchbacked, his name is Jean Cadoret, and he comes “from the city,” where he worked as a tax collector. He is the son of a former resident of Les Bastides, Florette Camoins, Pique-Bouffigue’s sister, whom Papet knew well long ago, before she left to marry the blacksmith from a neighboring village. An idealist, Jean hopes to lead the life of a prosperous farmer, close to nature. Papet urges Ugolin to befriend the newcomer so he can more effectively bring about his failure, and arranges for the villagers not to tell Jean de Florette about the spring on his land that the two men have blocked. He also forbids Ugolin from revealing that the hunchback is Florette’s son. After a few difficulties, Jean de Florette seems to be succeeding in his new life. But the drought and the two Soubeyrans’ schemes drive the hunchback to desperate attempts to find a spring, which he needs to cultivate his land and make a living from it. After mortgaging his property to Papet, Jean de Florette, determined to dig a well, uses dynamite to blast through the rock. Carried away by his enthusiasm, he rushes toward the hole without waiting for the rocks hurled into the air to fall back down. One of the stones strikes him in the cervical vertebrae, and the hunchback dies. Papet and Ugolin thus become the owners of the Romarins. After pretending to search for the spring, they uncover its opening, unaware that little Manon has seen them. Horrified, she runs away.