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Friday 26 April 11-11.30am |
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Route for Programme 3 - Provence
PROVENCE
British film goers may remember Jean de Florette and Manon de Sources - the world wide film hits of the 1980’s - with great fondness. They may remember who starred in them - Gerard Depardieu, Yves Montand and Daniel Auteil. They might even remember the director, Claude Berri. But they probably don’t remember the novels they were based on, or who wrote them. The man behind the stories was in fact one of France’s most acclaimed - Marcel Pagnol. Pagnol was also a film maker and member of the Academie Francais, as Tony Hawks discovered when he went on the trail of Marcel Pagnol in the South of France
TRAVEL LOCATIONS
There are in fact dozens of places in Provence with something associated with Marcel Pagnol and his films but the places that Tony visited in the programme were as follows:
AUBAGNE
This is a good place to start a tour as it's Pagnol's birthplace and where you can find Le petite Monde du Marcel Pagnol - a museum with photos and ‘santons’ of characters from Pagnol’s books. He was born on 28th February 1895 at Barthelemy Road.
Aubagne Tourist Syndicat d’Initiative has a map with all the places associated with Pagnol. They are located at Avenue Antide Boyer, 13400 Aubagne, tel: 0033 442 03 49 90, fax: 0033 442 03 83 62, open Monday to Saturday, 0900-1200 and 1400-1800
Nearby you’ll find:
LA TREILLE
La Treille is small town in the hills behind Marseille, where the town layout of Jean de Florette can be seen - the inspiration for La Bastide Blaches. This is also where the first version of Manon Des Sources was filmed (1952) and the tiny fountain is still running in the central square. Pagnol first visited the village for his annual holidays in 1904 at the age of nine. It captivated him so much that it was in the cemetery of La Treille that Pagnol chose to be buried after his death in 1974.
EOURES
Where Pagnol shot Le Schpuntz and where our loquacious guide to Marcel Pagnol country lived - his name was Monsieur Louis Del Rosso, 78 rue Arnould, Eoures, 13011 Marseille, tel 00 33 (0) 4 91 43 05 59
(he speaks very good French - but no English!)
LUBERON
You’ll need to travel about 2 hours north to the Luberon for most of the locations from the versions directed by Claude Berri, they were filmed in many locations, but the ones we visited were in
Vaugines where you can see the exterior of the church and the cemetery
and
Mirabeau, where much of the film was set - the village looks much as it did in both films and this is the fountain seen in Claude Berri's films.
MORE ABOUT PAGNOL:
Le Chateau de Ma Mere (My Mother’s Castle) was written in 1958 and La Gloire de Mon Pere (My Father’s Glory) was written in 1957 - they are two of his best loved books in France.
As well as the director, Claude Berri’s adaptation of the Marcel Pagnol novels, as is
Jean De Florette and Manon des Sources. They are both available on video.
Germaine Jones who was Tony’s guest on the programme also lecturers for the Alliance francaise and at Birmingham University. If you are interested in learning more about French culture then the Alliance Francaise website is full of information and events.
FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION
Tony visited the Museum of the French Foreign Legion whilst he was in Aubagne, Musee de la Legion Etrangere, Route de la Thuilliere, 13400 Aubagne, tel: 0033 442 18 82 41. The opening times are as follows: from 1st October to 31st May the museum is open on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 1000 - 1200 and 1400-1600 and from 1st June to 30th September it is open every day from 1000 - 1200 and 1500 - 1900 except on Monday and Friday afternoons.
You are able to buy a French Foreign Legion hat at the souvenir shop, amongst other things, but frankly the museum is really for devotees.
GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THIS PART OF FRANCE
Getting there
Among the companies that operate flights to Marseille are Go, tel: 0870 607 6543, British Airways, tel: 08457 222111,
or you could take the ferry from Portsmouth to Le Havre, 0870 2424999. For details visit the P&O Portsmouth website
. The journey by car to Aubagne is approximately 600 miles.
French Tourist Board 178 Piccadilly, London, W1J 9AL, tel: 09068 244123.
Hotels
Villa St Louis, 35 rue H de Savourinin 84160 Lourmarin, tel: 0033 490 68 39 18, fax: 0033 490 68 10 07.
Relais de la Magdeleine, 13420 Gemenos, tel: 0033 442 32 20 16, fax: 0033 442 32 02 26
For other hotels in the region consult the Charming Small Hotel Guides to France by Paul Wade & Kathy Arnold, published by Duncan Peterson Ltd, ISBN 9 781903 301142 or France, published by Lonely Planet, ISBN 0 86442 612 7.
Music
Theme music for the series is Vas-Y-Mimile by Marc Perrone, track 8 from the album, Rough Guide to Cafe Paris, published by Rough Guides , RGNET 1084 CD. The other music you heard in the programme was from the film soundtrack Jean De Floret, composed by Jean-Claude Petit, tracks 1 and 17, CD CH241
IMDB filmography: Marcel Pagnol
Read Arthur Smith's Diary of his visit
Find out the route used in programme 6
Find out the route used in programme 5
Find out the route used in programme 4
Find out the route used in programme 2
Find out the route used in programme 1
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RELATED LINKS |
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BBC French Steps - French online for beginners
BBC Language Courses on the web
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