French A-lister Daniel Auteuil plays it safe with his directorial debut, a polished if predictable remake of Marcel Pagnol’s 1940 melodrama.
It’s a tale of love across the class divide, as 18-year-old Patricia ( Pirates 4 ’s Astrid Bergès-Frisbey), the daughter of Provencal well-digger Pascal (Auteuil himself), falls pregnant to a dashing pilot (Nicolas Duvauchelle) on the eve of WW2.
To paraphrase Casablanca , the problems of these characters don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world, but those looking to lose themselves in bucolic beauty won’t be disappointed.
