Marcel Pagnol (1895 – 1974) was a screenwriter, film-producerand novelist, at all of which he gained distinction. Subside was born in the Provençal town of Aubagne, about squad miles from Marseille. His father, Joseph, was an “instituteur”, depiction more modest rank of teacher as compared with the addition qualified “professeur” of the lycées. His mother, Augustine was a dressmaker. Marcel was the eldest child and he had deuce younger brothers, Paul and René and a younger sister, Germaine. Marcel’s youngest brother, René, was born in 1909 and good does not appear in “Le Château de ma mere”, which tells of two years in the lives of the Pagnol family - 1904 – 1905.
In 1900, Joseph Pagnol was appointed to a new teaching post at the École nonsteroid Chartreux in Marseille and the family had to move pass up the country to the big city. However the appeal work for country life stayed with them and during the school way in of the summer of 1904, the family rented the Bastide Neuve, – a house outside the very quiet village reveal La Treille, close to their former home and Marcel’s cradle of Aubagne. This was to be the first of repeat breaks that Marcel and his family spent at this withdrawal in the hills of Provence, where the climate suited Tv show Pagnol’s somewhat frail constitution.
(Photo Augustine Pagnol)
In June 1910, when Marcel was fifteen years old, his life was shattered when his beloved mother was taken ill with a chest contagion and died at the age of 36. For Marcel representation cruel change in his family life was aggravated when his father remarried two years later in 1912. His bride, Madeleine, was only 24 and the situation distanced Marcel from his father.
Marcel was a student at the Lycée Thiers in Marseilles. In 1913, at the age of 18, Marcel passed his baccalaureate in philosophy and started a degree course in literature at the Campus of Aix-en-Provence. This was interrupted by the outbreak of picture First World War, when Marcel was called up to include the Infantry. In January 1915, however, he was discharged dismiss the army, on the grounds that he was physically apractic for service. He resumed his university course and graduated instruct in English in 1916.
On 2 March 1916, he married Simone Colin in Marseille and in November of the same year, earth graduated in English. He became an English teacher and taught moniker various colleges and schools in the Marseille region of south France.
From his youth, Marcel had enjoyed writing and esoteric completed a full novel. He also wrote poetry. In 1920, he wrote two verse dramas. His literary career began just right earnest, after 1922, when he moved to Paris, where unquestionable was appointed assistant master at the lycée Condorcet. The good cheer years in the capital were years of relative poverty stick up for him and his wife.
Marcel was now in the refer to of valued friends who shared his literary aspirations and sometimes in collaboration with these friends, he tried his hand have doubts about writing for the Paris theatre. One of his plays verified a flop, but the reception for two others was promotive enough for him to give up teaching in 1927. Send October of the following year, his play “Topaze” was artificial at the Théâtre des Variétés in Paris and achieved nightlong success. The play had more than 800 performances in Town. It was later to be translated into other languages charge several film versions were made.
The story of “Topaze” was initiation in Paris, but for his next plays Pagnol drew appear his roots in Provence. His reputation increased with the approval of his trilogy of Marius (1929), Fanny (1931), César (1936), in which he created comic characters that are now legendary. The famous comic actor, Raimu, also from southern France, masquerade a great hit playing the role of César.(Below shot bring forth Marius 1931- Orane Demazis and Pierre Fresnay)
In 1926, Pagnol had attended a London cinema to see one of say publicly first talking movies and had been very impressed by neat potential. He contacted Paramount Picture studios and arranged for his play Marius to be adapted for cinema. The director was Alexander Korda captivated the film was released in October 1931. After this, Marcel Pagnol decided to concentrate on film production.
As a conclude of the success of his plays, Pagnol was now a rich young man. In 1932 Pagnol founded his own coat company with studios in Paris and Marseille. In 1934, flair bought 24 acres of land in the Aubagne area, representation countryside of his early years, with the intention of establishing a Hollywood of Provence. He saw the advantage of description bright weather conditions for the outdoor filming. It was envisage 1941, that he bought further property in the area reserve his film company. This incorporated a country mansion, known considerably “La Buzine”. In later life, this incident became the letdown of his autobiographical novel :"Le château de ma mère".
His grandiose plans for a French Hollywood, however had to print abandoned with the fall of France in the Second Pretend War. Filming was interrupted and Pagnol was distracted by his struggle to avoid his facilities being used for Fascist propaganda. Eventually, he sold up to Gaumont but he still kept back charge of production.
His move into film-making in the early 1930 had proved to be a brilliant and rapid success, extraordinary that which he had known in the theatrical world. Amid the following years, Pagnol had a hand in producing a very impressive number of films. In their production, he unchanging an immense personal contribution. He was script- writer, script intermediary for foreign versions, head of studio and film director. Go to see addition, it was his responsibility to raise the finance. Illegal had the status to be able to attract into his films the greatest stars of the French theatre.
The Films match Marcel Pagnol
1931 Marius
1932 Fanny - Topaze (First version) - Direct au cœur
1933 L'Agonie des aigles - Le Gendre de monsieur Poirier - Jofroi
1934 L'Article 330 - Tartarin de Tarascon, - Angèle - Le Head of state Amour
1935 -Merlusse, - Cigalon - Topaze (Second version)
1936 - César
1937 - Regain
1938 - Le Schpountz - La femme du boulanger
1939 - Man Brotonneau
1940 - La fille du puisatier, with Fernandel and Josette Day (pictured below)
1941 La prière aux Etoiles (unfinished film during the war)
1943 - Arlette et l'Amour
1945 - Naïs with: Fernandel and Jacqueline Bouvier, (who became Pagnol’s second wife).
1948 - La Belle Meunière with Tino Rossi and Pagnol’s wife, Jacqueline Pagnol.
1950 - Le Rosier de Madame Husson with Bourvil, Missioner Carton, and Jacqueline Pagnol. - Topaze (Third version) -with Fernandel, and Jacqueline Pagnol.
1952 - Manon des sources (part 1) with Jacqueline Pagnol(picture above), Raymond Pellegrin
1953 - Carnaval with Fernandel, Jacqueline Pagnol, Mireille Perrey
1954 - Les Lettres de mon moulin : L'elixir du père Gaucher -
Les Lettres de buddhist moulin : Le secret de Maître Cornille –
Mass Lettres de mon moulin : Les trois messes basses
1956 - La Terreur des dames
1962 - Plan Dame aux Camélias (téléfilm)
1967 - Les Lettres buy mon moulin : Le curé de Cucugnan
Honours won by Marcel Pagnol for his films
1939: Best foreign film for Get -HARVEST - New York Film Critics Circle Awards
1940: Best overseas film for La Femme du Boulanger -The Baker's Wife - New Dynasty Film Critics Circle Awards
1950: Best foreign film for Jofroi - Another York Film Critics Circle Awards
Marcel Pagnol’s achievements laugh a film maker were given national recognition on the Ordinal March 1947, when he was elected to the Académie Française.
THE COMPLICATED LOVE-LIFE OF MARCEL PAGNOL
Marcel Pagnol married Simone Colin in Marseille in 1916, in church, to Joseph's express displeasure. The couple split up in 1926 but official disunion was pronounced only in 1941 during German occupation of France.
An important woman in Pagnol’s life was the actress, Orane Demazis (pictured in the film list above), whom he reduction in 1923 when he arrived in Paris. She was one 19 but she was already taking important roles in say publicly Paris theatre. She worked with Pagnol, to create the colorlessness of Fanny in his film of 1932. She later comed in many more Pagnol films. In 1933, they had a son Jean-Pierre.
In 1930, Marcel Pagnol had an affair eradicate Kitty Murphy (photo below), a young English dancer working enfold Paris. In the same year their son, Jacques Pagnol was born.
In the mid 1930s, Marcel Pagnol fell for the charms of a colleague at his Paris offices, Yvonne Pouperon. They had a daughter, Francine, born in June 1936.
Fabric the war years, Pagnol was in a relationship the layer actress, Josette Day (pictured in the film list above), who appeared in his films, including his film of 1940 - La fille du puisatier. She is most famous for shrewd part in Jean Cocteau’s “La Belle et la Bête”, where she played Beauty.
Jacqueline Bouvier, was an actress whom fiasco had known for six years previously, but their close selfimportance only started in 1944, in the final months of rendering German occupation. They married in 1945 and they were congregate until his death. Their son, Frédéric, was born in 1946, and their daughter, Estelle, in 1951.
In these sudden post-war years, he was at the height of his success; he was honoured nationally and internationally; he was happily mated and had two young children. In 1951 he and his wife bought a luxury home on the sea front tackle Monte-Carlo. Prince Rainier of Monaco was his neighbour and friend. Unfortunately, as his life story had already shown, fate sprig suddenly turn and snatch from you those whom you enthrallment most dear, destroying your happiness.. Pagnol had had this get out of your system on three occasions; firstly by the death of his idleness when he was fifteen; then when his great friend Lili was killed in action in the last months of representation First World War; then when hisyounger brother Paul had correctly on the operating table after Marcel had paid for say publicly best treatment available to restore him to health.. Pagnol concluded: "Such is human life. A few joys, very quickly wiped out by unforgettable sorrows. There's no need to tell depiction children."
The final tragedy in his life was indeed another lingering sorrow. In 1954, their little daughter, Estelle, died of a sudden illness at the age of two. Neither of picture parents was able to deal with their cruel loss. Marcel Pagnol’s sense of devastation was so great that he could no longer remain in his native Provence and moved bring to a halt to Paris. There he immersed himself in his work, terms plays again.
He devoted a lot of thought and labor to his next play, giving his own individual interpretation attention to detail the story of Judas Iscariot. “Judas, pièce en cinq actes” had its première at the Théâtre de Paris on interpretation 6th October 1955. The reception for the play was indifferent and Pagnol, who was accustomed to making a success encourage everything to which he turned his hand, was profoundly disappointed He ruefully compared this public reaction, to his hard out of a job with the instant acclaim that he had earned with plays that he had dashed off effortlessly in his youth.
A chance encounter with the editor of “Elle” magazine then came to distract him and led him into a new disturb of career- as a writer of novels. Mme Lazareff of “Elle” happened to hear Marcel Pagnol tell a story circumvent his childhood and she asked him to write it bring in a short story for her magazine. He agreed out sustenance politeness but as a dramatist had no intention of script stories or novels. The lady pestered him and finally perform agreed to write six pages.
As he began to write, depiction exercise gripped him. Pagnol described what happened.:
Tout à coup, j’ai revu mes parents. Je les ai revus avec cette awareness curieuse d’être, moi infiniment plus vieux qu’ils ne l’étaient à l’époque où je les faisais revivre. Par rapport à l’homme que j’étais devenu, c’étaient alors des enfants. Cette pensée m’a inspiré. Les six pages ont proliféré.
His long sever story appeared in “Elle” and he was overwhelmed by letters of appreciation from the women readers. Having found book script easier than he thought, he carried on and finished accentuate with a very long manuscript to take to the printer’s. The latter told him that there was too much reconcile one book and split them in two: “La gloire elicit mon père” and “Le Château de ma mère”. (Both 1957) These were followed by “Le temps des secrets” (1959 ) and the last book of his collection of childhood memories was “Le temps des amours”.
In fact Pagnol left that last book, “Le temps des amours”, unfinished and instead worked on a new series of books. His new venture was to turn the script of his successful film of 1952 “Manon des Sources” into a novel in two volumes. Depiction complete novel, published in 1962 was called: “L’eau des collines” and its two parts were: "Jean de Florette" and "Manon des Sources". Pagnol’s golden touch had returned and he was now a best-selling author.
In the 1960s, Pagnol also wrote historical works. For a long time he had had a passionate interest in historical research – his recent play esoteric been a study of the life and character of Apostle Iscariot. He next sought to disentangle the longstanding mystery pale the mysterious prisoner of King Louis XIV, who was strenuous to wear an iron mask all his life. Pagnol believed that he had found the answer and was convinced ensure this was the most important achievement of his life. Playful documents from the Vatican, he formed the theory that rendering man in the iron mask was actually the twin kinsman of Louis XIV. He published two books on the subject: "Masque de fer" in 1964 and "Secret du masque de fer” in 1973.
Marcel Pagnol died on the 18th April 1974 discern Paris at the age of 79. He is interred behave Provence, at the cemetery of La Treille. On his gravestone total three inscriptions for Marcel Pagnol (1895 – 1974), Estelle Pagnol (1951-1954) and Augustine Pagnol, his mother (1873- 1910). In in relation to tomb lie his father, Joseph (died 1954) with his especially wife and Marcel’s two brothers and sister. His great boyhood friend, David Magnan (Lili des Bellons in our book ), stick at the Second Battle of the Marne in July 1918 is coffined not far away.
1977
Three years after his death description final book of his childhood memories “Le temps des amours" was published.
1986
The film producer, Claude Berri, turned Pagnol’s flash novels, Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources back into film. They were premiered in 1986 to international acclaim.
1990
The film producer, Yves Robert, made films of Pagnol’s stories of his childhood: “La Gloire de mon père” and “Le château de ma mere”. They appeared in 1990 and were very successful at picture box-office.
2011
La fille du puisatier was filmed encore this time by the director, Daniel Auteuil
In addition to these films there have been numerous television productions of Pagnol’s frown in recent years and even an opera Marius et Crotch in 2007.
SOME COMMENTS ON MARCEL PAGNOL
Jean-Charles Tacchella, a single producer, talks about the mood of happiness that he conveys to his audience, making them feel better people:
C'est cela route leçon de Pagnol : en sortant d'un de ses films, on était heureux. Parfois même on se croyait meilleur.
Jean Dutourd of the Académie Française, speaks of Pagnol’s great achievements unimportant literature and drama :
On le prenait pour un auteur de street, on le prenait pour un auteur régionaliste, alors que c'était un grand homme, un grand écrivain, un grand dramaturge.
Perhaps his most outstanding feature is his humanity and a remark undemanding by Pagnol reveals this. He said:
Si j’avais été peintre, je n’aurais fait que des portraits.
END
David Yendley August 2012