Jean de Florette

In a rural village in Provence, a landowner named César Soubeyran and his nephew Ugolin want to grow carnations for profit. The plot they have in mind belongs to a neighbour, and when he dies, the property passes to Jean Cadoret, a tax clerk from the city who arrives with his wife Aimée and young daughter Manon to start a new life as a farmer. What Jean does not know is that his neighbours have sealed off the spring on the land, leaving him without the water his crops and animals need. Through a hot summer he hauls water from distant wells while his health declines and his family suffers, and the two men wait for him to give up and sell.

Claude Berri directed and co-wrote the film with Gérard Brach. It came after One Wild Moment in Berri's filmography and was followed the same year by Manon of the Spring, which continues the story. Yves Montand plays César, Gérard Depardieu plays Jean, Daniel Auteuil plays Ugolin, and Elisabeth Depardieu and Ernestine Mazurowna play Aimée and Manon. The production, a French, Italian and Swiss co-production, had a budget of about 5 million dollars.

On IMDb the film holds 8.1 out of 10 from around 29,000 votes, and on TMDB it has 7.7 out of 10 from roughly 627 votes. A critics' rating of 8.2 out of 10 from 29 reviews places it close to the audience scores, indicating broad agreement on its quality.