#986: PAGNOL, Marcel: The Baker's Wife (1938)

PAGNOL, Marcel (France)
The Baker's Wife [1938]
Spine #986
Blu-ray


The warmth and wit of celebrated playwright turned cinema auteur Marcel Pagnol shine in this enchanting slice-of-life comedy. Returning to the Provençal countryside he knew imtimately, Pagnol draws a vivid portrait of a close-knit village where the marital woes of a sweetly deluded baker (the inimitable Raimu, praised by no less than Orson Welles as "the greatest actor who ever lived") snowball into a scandal that engulfs the town. Marrying the director's abiding concern for the experiences of ordinary people with an understated but superbly judged visual style, The Baker's Wife is at once wonderfully droll and piercingly perceptive in its depiction of the complexities of human relationships.

134 minutes
Black & White
Monaural
in French
1:37:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2019
Director/Writers


Based upon a novel by Jean Giono.
Screenplay by Marcel Pagnol.
Pagnol was 43 when he directed The Baker's Wife.

Other Pagnol films in the Collection:

#884: César (1936)

The Film

A

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Twelve-page wraparound featuring an essay by film scholar Ginette Vincendeau.

Commentary

Selected-scene audio commentary featuring Pagnol scholar Brett Bowles.

Introduction

By Pagnol from 1967.

Excerpt

From a 1966 interview with Pagnol for the French television series Cinéastes de notre temps.

Short French news program

From 1976 revisiting the village of Le Castellet, where the film was shot.

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

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