Manon des Sources (1986 film)

Manon des Sources French pronunciationman de sus released in North America as Manon of the Spring is a critically acclaimed and commercially successful 1986 French language film. Directed by Claude Berri, it is the second of two films adapted from the 1966 twovolume novel by Marcel Pagnol, who wrote it based on his own earlier film of the same title. It is the sequel to Jean de Florette.

After seeing her bathe nude in the mountains, Ugolin develops an interest in Manon. When he approaches her, she seems disgusted by his vileness and almost certainly by the memory of his involvement in her fathers downfall. But Ugolins interest in Manon becomes obsessive, culminating in sewing a ribbon from her hair onto his chest. At the same time, Manon becomes interested in Bernard, a handsome and educated schoolteacher recently arrived in the village. As a small child, Manon had suffered the loss of her father, who died from a blow to the head while using explosives in an attempt to find the water source. Csar and Ugolin then bought the farm cheaply from his widowManons motherand unblocked the spring. Manon witnessed this as a child. The two men profited directly from his death.When she overhears two villagers talking about it, Manon realises that many in the village knew of the crime but had remained silent, for the Soubeyran family was locally important. While searching for a goat that fell into a crevice above the village, Manon finds the underground source of the spring that supplies water to the local farms and village. To take her revenge on both the Soubeyrans and the villagers, who knew but did nothing, she stops the flow of water using the ironoxide clay and rocks found nearby. ........

Source: Wikipedia