"Marius" plot synopsis

Plot synopsis of "Marius"|Appreciation|Review

1931 black and white film 130 minutes

French Marcel Pagnol Film Company/ Co-produced by Paramount (Paris) Advertising Agency of the United States

Director: Alexander Korda Screenwriter: Marcel Pagnol (adapted from his stage play of the same name) Photography: Ted Parler Main actors: Rémy (as César Olivier), Pierre Fleissner (as Marius), Olana Demazis (as Fanny), Fernand Chaban ( Playing Honoré Panis) Alida Rufo (playing Honorine Gabanese) Paul Dulac (playing Felix Esgartfeger)

Plot summary

Although young Marius works in the "Sailor's Bar", his heart has already flown to the sea; his biggest wish is to wander around the seas with ocean ships, so he is listless and absent-minded when working. His mother has passed away, and his widowed father placed all his hopes on him. Although he scolded him for being lazy and not striving for progress, he loved him very much deep down.

Father Cesar Sr. is cheerful and generous, and often plays poker with his card buddies for fun. The shipyard owner Parnis, the barge captain Felix, and the well-dressed customs inspector Mr. Brun especially have similar interests with him, and the four of them just make up the game. Almost all of them were widowed or singles who were frustrated in love. Only the barge captain had a wife, and he happened to be a famous "bastard".

In fact, Marius has long been secretly in love with Fanny, the daughter of the fisherman Honorina, but he has never dared to express his feelings to Fanny because he cares about the voyage. However, when he heard in the Mariner's Bar that Panisse intended to propose to Fanny, he couldn't help but become jealous. So Fanny takes the opportunity to "provoke" Marius and lure Marius into marrying her. At this time, Marius's friend Picasso suddenly came to report that an ocean-going ship was going to sea tonight. A sailor on the ship had not returned from the ship, so he urgently needed to hire a sailor. Marius was very happy to hear the news and sent the sailor who had arrived. The words of love on his lips were swallowed back.

Honorina learned that Fanny refused to marry the solid and reliable Panis because she fell in love with the idle Marius, and decided to talk to Cesar because it was related to The future of their children. After some fierce bargaining, the two old men finally reached an agreement on the issue of bride price and dowry.

Fanny came to Marius at closing time and said that she had officially rejected Panis' proposal and expressed her long-standing love for Marius without reservation. Marius also told the truth, saying that he had always longed for the sea, and it was only because he was reluctant to leave Fanny that he could not bear to leave this mediocre Marseille. The couple, who had been secretly in love with each other for a long time, had a heart-to-heart talk for the first time, but then Picasso came to report again, saying that the sailor who had left the ship had returned, and the ocean liner no longer needed to hire new sailors. Now that the barrier between Marius and Fanny was removed, Fanny followed Marius into his bedroom. From then on, they kept secret from their parents and had trysts together every night.

For several months, everything was peaceful. Old Cesar could only feel his son's flashing words and mysterious actions. He guessed which woman he must be having an affair with, but he couldn't guess who the woman would be. Fanny is preoccupied with planning her marriage. She only hopes to grow old with Marius; little does she know that Marius has never given up on his desire to fly away.

...

One day, Bigua Shuttle came again to report that an ocean liner was sailing the next morning, and Marius was asked to go out to sea with him.

Marius couldn't bear to leave Fanny behind, so he declined his friend's invitation. Picasso felt that Fanny was hindering Marius' future and felt sorry for Marius. Their conversation was overheard by Fanny, who realized that Marius would not be satisfied even if he married her. Only by letting him fly away could she fulfill his long-cherished wish.

That morning, Honorina walked into her daughter's room early in the morning and found Marius lying on the bed. So she rushed to Cesar's house in a hurry. Only then did the old father know that his son was having an affair with Fanny. The upright father assured the mother-in-law, who was urging her children to get married as soon as possible, that they would never do anything embarrassing. During breakfast, the father showed his cards to his son and repeatedly emphasized that he could not be irresponsible towards girls. It happened that at this time, Picasso came again and asked Marius: Do you still want the ocean liner that is about to weigh anchor to go to sea? Marius replied sadly: He can no longer leave Marseille...

However, in order to help Marius realize his dream of going to sea, Fanny lied that she decided to marry Panis, on the pretext that Panis had a wife. Money, marrying him can ensure that my mother enjoys her old age. Marius believed it to be true. Seeing that Fanny was so unkind, he had no worries at all. He packed his bags and rushed to the ship. In order to prevent her father from blocking her, Fanny managed to entangle old Cesar, but her father did not notice that his son had run away. The enthusiastic father-in-law took his future daughter-in-law into his room and talked endlessly about how he planned to help them build a happy little family. At this time, the heartbroken Fanny stood at the window, staring blankly at the departing ship, crying.

Appreciation

This film is the first part of the "Marseille Trilogy". Screenwriter Marcel Pagnol was a famous French novelist, playwright, film critic and film director in the 1930s.

At the beginning of this century, Pagnol, who grew up in Marseille, witnessed the coastal fishing town of that imperial era quickly transforming into a prosperous seaport. His first works were inspired by the description of the colorful, passionate and impulsive life of the residents of Marseille. brought him international fame. The middle school English teacher quickly became a professional writer. He was initially known for his screenplays, and his famous work "Daubas" not only conquered French audiences with its distinctive characters and vivid local colors, but also amazed foreign audiences - especially American audiences. Hollywood once adapted "Doubas" into a movie, and the movie was very popular, which stimulated Marcel Pagnol's interest in movies. After "Daubas", his stage play "Marius" was performed in Paris to rave reviews, and he decided to put it on the screen. But he was not familiar with movies after all, so he asked Hungarian director Alexander Korda to direct. Pagnol believes that the director of the film is not important, and the screenwriter is the real author of the film. Therefore, during the filming of the film "Marius", Pagnol never left the filming scene. On the one hand, he supervised the director not to change the original scenes. and dialogue, on the other hand he also took the opportunity to learn how to shoot a film.

Alexander Korda is one of the founders of Hungarian cinema, but after 1920, he left Hungary and shot films in Austria, Germany and the United States; since 1931, he settled in the United Kingdom, because For his outstanding achievements in film creation, he was canonized by the Queen of England and awarded the title of Lord. The films he directed, such as "Henry VIII" (also translated as "The Secret History of the Palace") and "Mrs. Hamilton", are undoubtedly masterpieces in the history of British film. "Marius" was Korda's first important film after leaving Hungary. The card-playing scene in the film is almost as famous as the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Even Pani, who despises the role of director, Orr also admitted that the film's director's mise-en-scène played a role.

The film, written by Pagnol, was produced at the beginning of the talkies. Sound not only paved the way for musicals, but also pushed movies further into drama. Dialogue that could not be heard on the screen in the past reached the ears of the audience at the same time as the characters moved and moved. In Hollywood, many silent film actors were unemployed due to lack of dialogue skills. At the same time, a group of stage actors and writers who were good at writing stage plays entered the studio hand in hand. In France, film artists who saw that the art of silent films had been perfected were reluctant to give up their territory to drama. However, it is an irresistible and inevitable trend for accomplished stage artists to move to the screen, and Pagnol is the most competitive representative of this group of stage artists. He not only created films, he also wrote literary works to pave the way for dramas to appear on the screen. He said: Since movies have sound, they are no longer anything else but dramas in a box. Today, his opinion is obviously biased, but at that time, although the films he created were criticized by video artists and critics, they were very popular among the audience. This at least shows that drama - especially brilliant films Dialogue and twists and turns of the plot, as possibilities for film expression, have their own irreplaceable charm. Later, French films strived for excellence in drama structure and dialogue creation, and gradually formed a "high-quality tradition" that was not attacked by the talents of "Cahiers du Cinema" until the 1950s. It should be said that Pagnol is actually this "high-quality tradition" the founder of. But while the wits of Cahiers du Cinema attacked "quality films," they showed mercy to Pagnol, believing that he, like Renoir, was a pioneer of writer's cinema.

"Marius" was Pagnol's first attempt to put a play on the screen. Although this film has a strong flavor of a stage play (for example, the angle of most of the shots is equivalent to the perspective of the audience watching the stage performance, and the camera position rarely changes), due to its distinctive characters and vivid dialogue, it still retains its originality. The charm of viewing.

Cesar is undoubtedly the character who left the deepest impression on people: quick-tempered, upright, compassionate, understanding, loving to his son, loyal to his friends, and kind-hearted to all people , these distinctive character traits are outlined by the outstanding performance artist Remy through rich facial expressions, eyes that speak more than a thousand words, rough and clumsy movements like a brown bear, and dialogues that are always mumbling but with loud voices. It must be lifelike. Parnis, played by Chaban, is the perfect foil for Cesar. The two of them not only cheated and cheated in the game of cards, but also intended to sing in harmony in life, but unfortunately they always sang out of tune, which backfired (Panis unintentionally became the love rival of Cesar's son).

The character Marius is always in a state of profound and irreconcilable conflict. He was a filial son, and he loved his loving father sincerely, but his strong desire to go overseas and explore the world had to make his loving father misunderstood, disappointed, and even sad. In the end, he left without saying goodbye and stayed away from his loving father. He is a loyal lover. He has been secretly in love with Fanny for a long time, but his strong desire to sail away prevents him from revealing his true feelings to Fanny. Needless to say, he suppressed love, which made him very painful. This pain finally broke out due to jealousy, but as a result, he learned that his sweetheart had actually been in love with him for a long time. This discovery not only made him feel happy, but also made him gain happiness; but his strong ambition forced him to lose his happiness. The outstanding stage performance artist Pierre Fleissner performed Marius's complex inner world in a clear-cut and artistically appealing way.

Every character in the film is competent and has a distinct personality. This is of course due to the excellent dialogue created by Pagnol. These dialogues not only fit the identity and personality of the characters, but are also very vivid due to the strong local color, making some scenes unforgettable. For example, the card-playing scene mentioned above is as famous as the Eiffel Tower: Cesar wants to "clear the air" with his opponent Felix, but this "cuckold" fool is extremely slow. Cesar had no choice but to grab his chest to show that he was letting him out. After his hint was seen through, he said boldly: "If someone can't cheat with his friends, what's the point of playing cards with this person!" Of course, this "cheating is justified" statement does not damage Cesar's overall kind image at all. , On the contrary, it makes him appear more real and lovely.

Although Korda was greatly restricted by Pagnol in terms of directing, the capable Korda succeeded in making the stage actors who played the film roles follow the subtle requirements of the screen image for their performances. The requirements, coupled with Korda's efforts to create an atmosphere consistent with the situation in terms of lighting and filming, add luster to this film adapted from a stage play and full of stage flavor. Marius is eager to run away, but Cesar, who is kept in the dark, keeps talking about the final scene of their father-son love. Even those who have prejudices against Pagnol's movie views cannot help but be deeply moved. move.