La gloire de mon père

This, like "Jean de Florette" and "Manon Of The Spring" is the first of two French films that go together. The second part of this story is the film, "My Mother's Castle." See them both, but if you can only see one, my recommendation is "My Mother's Castle."

As in many French films, this offers very little action and not much that is noteworthy but is filled with interesting characters and excellent storytelling. The French still offer that great storytelling, something that has slowly faded among filmmakers in other countries.

This story is based on the memoirs of Marcel Pagnol, a very Liberal educator and atheist. His views are probably the main reason critics all loved this movie. They could identify.

Despite the father's shortcomings, there is a nice appeal here as all the characters are interesting to varying degrees. I love the way they all express themselves, certainly different than we do here in North America. As with most of these French stories, there is very little profanity, too.