Having had his first international success as ill-fated flower grower Ugolin in the landmark Marcel Pagnol adaptations Jean de Florette (1985) and Manon des Sources (1986) acclaimed French actor Daniel Auteuil here makes his directorial debut with this remake of another great work by the hugely influential playwright, novelist and filmmaker. Pagnol's original film in 1940 starred French comedy icon Fernandel in the role of Felipe opposite Josette Day, of La Belle et la Bête (1946) fame, as Patricia and was somewhat breezier whereas Auteuil's version is more somber albeit absorbing. Gorgeously shot by D.P. Jean-François Roland, The Well-Digger's Daughter retains the same bucolic splendour familiar from Claude Berri's celebrated Pagnol adaptations. Pagnol's devotion to French provincial life gave birth to what we know call heritage cinema. While derided in some quarters such poignantly prettified period pieces made many people fall in love with French film. Too often detractors overlook that beneath their surface beauty the stories woven by Pagnol are rigorous moral fables confronting the harsher aspects of life and the human condition.
It is recognizably an actor-director's movie in that the camera remains sensitive to the nuanced performances and does not grow overly enamoured with the scenery. Although Auteuil is one fine form and Kad Merad especially likeable as quite possibly the nicest, most decent man in Provence, the most vivid impression is made by achingly lovely Astrid Berges-Frisbey, who played the mermaid in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011). She gives a powerfully poignant performance as a gentle yet fiercely intelligent, moral but conflicted young woman who might seem adrift in a man's world but confronts them with challenging questions. If there is a weak link in the movie it is the hard-to-like character of Jacques who comes across such a smug, self-serving bastard it is hard to sympathize when the plot throws him a curveball. Only an actor with great charm could make Jacques' actions excusable yet Nicholas Duvauchelle inexplicably plays him in such a cold fashion with a near-permanent smirk on his face one comes away from the conclusion with the idea that rich boys get what they want without having to learn anything from the experience.
