Jan 12 2009
A wave of “Adieux”
In French, we say “Jamais deux sans trois ” (never two without a third).
After the César’s creator, Georges Cravenne, and the greatest pâtissier ever, Gaston Lenôtre, passed away last week, it’s Claude Berri’s turn. 2009 doesn’t start so good!
He was one of the best film director, if not the best, we had and it would take too long for me to type a list of all the movies he worked on. Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources were some of his masterpieces. He was the Godfather, the pillar of French cinema.
Here is a few of his movies in box office:
| Year | Title | Numbers |
|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Le Maître d’école | 3105596 |
| 1983 | Tchao Pantin | 3829139 |
| 1985 | Jean de Florette | 7223781 |
| 1986 | Manon des sources | 6645288 |
| 1990 | Uranus | 2542412 |
| 1993 | Germinal | 6 161 776 |
| 2002 | Une femme de ménage | 757 541 |
| 2005 | L’un reste, l’autre part | 801 412 |
| 2007 | Ensemble, c’est tout | 2 209 374 |
| 2008 | Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis | 20 449 079 |
In homage, a few French channels will show some of his movies and I do hope that TV5 Monde will show a few too.
Jean de Flourette still holds a place in my heart as a movie that opened my eyes to how different French film is to American — I saw it in French class so many moons ago.
Of course, maybe if I spelled Jean de Florette correctly, I’d be more convincing. 8^)