Rating: 
Summary: Completes one of the greatest film stories of recent decades
Review: MANON OF THE SPRING completes the story that began in JEAN DE FLORETTE. It is not a sequel; it is the second half of a single tale. Although the first film can be watched independently of the first, neither really stands completely on its own.The second film takes place several years after the first, and centers on two of the characters from the first film--Le Papet played by Yves Montand and Ugolin played by Daniel Auteuil--as well as a young girl who is now living on the land upon which Jean de Florette lived in the first. The girl named Manon and played by the exquisitely beautiful Emmanuelle Béart, turns out to be the daughter of Jean de Florette. Ugolin, observing her, falls hopelessly in love with us, yearning for her in a manner so desperate and passionate that you sense immediately the impossibility of its being fulfilled. The film deals with her resolve to wreck her revenge on those responsible for the death of her father. What she doesn't realize is the possibility of an even more potent revenge that lies beyond her control, but which arises near the end of the film. The two films are great without the last half hour of the film, but it is the last half hour that makes the two-film sequence a truly magnificent masterpiece. We find near the end revelations that make the story that the two films tell almost impossibly tragic. I can say no more than this without giving away key elements of the plot. The two films are both quite superb in the picture they paint of rural France. The idyllic beauty of the countryside belies the hidden blackness in the hearts of many of the characters. Yves Montand's character, especially, displays the karma attaching to a petty, mean-spirited viciousness. If the first film belonged to Gérard Depardieu, the second one, and as it were retrospectively both films, to Yves Montand. Although Montand made a few more films before his death, this was far and away the greatest thing he did in his last years, and in a way stands as the last great achievement in a grand career. I'm not certain he was ever better than in the last half hour of this great film. I cannot urge strongly enough for anyone who loves movies to see these two films. Even those who do not normally enjoy foreign films with love these. The story told is too grand, and the performances too stellar, not to adore them.
Rating:
Summary: A movie to make you reflect
Review: Manon of the Spring is an exquisitely told story that grabs your heart and doesn't let go until the movie ends. To truly appreciate it, you must see the first part, Jean De Florette. In that movie, two greedy neighbors trick and cheat Manon's father, who is a kind and generous man, in order to gain his property, but the cost is even higher than they planned, since the deception also leads to his death. In this sequel, his now-grown daughter learns of the plot which caused the loss of her father, and takes revenge on them. Although you depise those greedy neighbors for what they did to that family, they are not portrayed completely as evildoers, rather as humans with their own flaws and failings. So when Manon's revenge results in more tragic consequences, it really makes you think about the cycle of pain and revenge that people perpetrate against one another. The greedy neighbors suffer harshly for their deeds, and although to a certain extent they deserved it, it is also very sad. There is a message here that "what goes around, comes around", and "you reap what you sow", and that those consequences happen naturally in time, and don't need human intervention to make them happen. This is a movie that will make a permanent impression.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Saga of Love and Betrayal
Review: Manon of the Spring is the continuation of Jean de Florette is an excellent saga of love and betrayal. It has an array of emotions that only the French can achieve. Once you get involved in the movie you want to know the ending.
Rating: 
Summary: A Light Operetta, Part II.
Review: Now a young beauty, Manon sets her self into a quest for revenge against those ones that killed his beloved and charming father, Jean Cadoret. Alone and proud, Manon is a shepherdess running free in the countryside, surviving and avoiding anyone and everyone that dismissed her father for no other sin than just being a foreigner. And so, in one hot summer day, Ugolin falls in love at first sight with the naked beauty of Manon. Chance will turn into the girl's path, to reveal the truth about his father's death, she vows anger and silence into her intentions, and again, chance will provide Manon with the exact and necessary means to revenge her unbearable loss. The whole town will be set into despair, and Papet and Ugolin will find each other in the terrible and cruel ways of the destiny they themselves forge, Cesar will face the dead of his name, and Ugolin, the sadness of a love not meant to be, at the end, they will beg for a miracle, and Manon will find true love inside her quest. Arise.
Claude Berri re-prices the landscapes, atmospheres and people from Marcel Pagnol's regarded novel (The Water of the Hill), into a sequel very much worthy of it's predecessor (Jean De Florette), an achievement in it's own right. Bravo.
Captivating and honest, Manon of the Spring is pure and true simple revenge, a classical tale of redemption through vengeance, compelling the simplicity and much worth braveness of one single and justified deed, from there to peace of mind. This time Claude Berri paints with the same brush, different emotions in the same protagonist, the slow breaking point of not knowing what else can you do to save yourself, down on your knees, she will only give pardon because of his love, indeed, destiny has the last laugh.
Again, the cast enters a passionate and intricate work. Ives Montand, portraits Papet with the same accurate eye, only this time, sadness and sorrow are added to the spectrum, and Papet is revealed in his human ways. The amazing Daniel Auteuil gives despair and tragic sense to Ugolin, the result stands in a emotive evolution of the character. Now, we get to see the little girl that was Manon in Jean De Florette, grown up to be breathtaking beauty, French actress Emmanuelle Beart, portraits the young shepherdess with dedicated understanding of such a bucolic soul, a keen and grooving performance, like a wood nymph (her nude dance scene is an absolute delicatessen), the supporting cast stands firm. The comparison with Jean De Florette hurts a little in Manon's script and in some parts of the direction. The screenplay is actually a fine piece of work, but there are some scenes where the development of important events are carried with some easiness along with a pace that doesn't quite fits the rhythm of the story. This little problem could have been emended in the DVD edition with extra footage, but it seems Claude Berri is quite happy with the original Cut, anyway Manon of the Spring succeeds by an exquisite continuation of a simple but humanly complex story, resulting into a piece of inner strength. Jean Claude-Petit limited himself to re-arrange the same music motifs that appeared in Jean De Florette, nothing more or new.
This DVD version has the same audio and visual transferring of Jean De Florette (Widescreen Letterbox Edition 2:35.1, with Dolby Digital 2.0) , a good edition of its feature, again, a new and improved version can do more justice to this beautiful film, but the DVD is good enough to see it without any real problems.
So, this is the final chapter of The Water of the Hill story, a portrayal of intolerance and love is what the whole story is about, and little in Cinema History, such topics had been shown with so much conviction, you recollect what you harvested in your own past, and laments have come to late to make a change.
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Summary: Beautiful film....
Review: Oh this is a beautiful film, shot in Provence, with the absolutely lovely Emmanuelle Beart playing Manon of the title role, and her husband Daniel Auteuil playing the opposing lead. Manon de Florette is the grown daughter of JEAN DE FLORETTE. To follow the storyline and understand Manon's actions, you must see part one of this two-part story. In part two, Manon has become a "shepardess" who lives with her goats on the hillsides in Provence. When we first see her, she garbed in a quaint shepherdess costume Marie Antoinette would have envied, and tinkling through the brushes with her herd. Auteuil, the young cousin of Jean de Florette sees her and realizes he has fallen in love with the adult Manon whom he first met in JEAN DE FLORETTE. One day, owing to someting Manon does, a handsome stranger comes to the village. Auteuil's chances with the beautiful Manon are dimmed by the arrival of this handsome young man who also falls in love with Manon. Beart is so beautiful it's hard to imagine why all the young men in the village aren't in love with her. However, other obstacles exist for Auteuil. I cannot say much more without giving away the storyline, but it has to do with an unresolved issue set up in the first part of the story told in the film JEAN DE FLORETTE. Let's just say it has to do with water, thus the title, MANON OF THE SPRING. JEAN DE FLORETTE and MANON are wonderful films, and although the latter film is the better one, you cannot understand the latter without the former. Storyline aside, if you love Provence, then these films will appeal to you. It is hard not to feel the sunlight on your cheeks and smell the wild Thyme, Fennel, Rosmary and other herbs growing on the hillsides where Manon and her goats wander.
Rating:
Summary: At the Top of the List
Review: One of the all time "perfect" movies in so many respects. It ties in all the unresolved issues of Jean de Florette. It portrays humanity in a near all-encompassing microcosm. Evil, good, grey, and all gradations in between in a simple provincial village in France circa who knows when? It's universal. We don't have to trouble ourselves about dates. It could be yesterday. It could have happened a century hence. Consummate film making in every aspect. Cinematography, sweeping. Acting, uniformly brilliant. Direction? Masterful. Script? Not many better. Buy this classic and it's predecessor and prepare to be swept away.
BEK
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Summary: The final chapter of Jean de Florette
Review: Originally titled "Manon des sources", this movie is the conclusion to the store "Jean de Florette". It is done in French dialogue & English subtitles. The camera captures the beauty of the French countryside in all its splendour in this movie. Jeans' daughter Manon, has grown up and taken over the family farm, following the tragedy which occurs in the first installment. She seeks to extract revenge on those who have harmed her family. There are some amazing revelations in the movie, which will leave you shocked. A truly wonderful movie, well acted, directed and filmed. It is important to watch the first installment (JdF), before viewing this movie.
Rating:
Summary: You really do need to see both...
Review: Released within a year of each other, "Jean de Florette" and "Manon des Sources" (aka "Manon of the Spring") are often viewed and reviewed separately, but the truth is that they're integral parts of a single story which needs to be seen in sequence for its full impact to be revealed.
Set in the 1920's, both explore the stark realities of the tough existence and myopic intrigue that was an integral part of life in the Luberon's stunningly pretty countryside & villages before the march of time transformed them into "must see" tourist destinations. Beautifully filmed and meticulously crafted, their brilliantly effective evocation of the realities of this now lost and very different world elevates each into the category of truly outstanding cinema - visual feasts that re-create what life was really like, good and bad, in what we now see as an "idyllic" time.
And, as entertainment? Well, "Jean de Florette" wins in terms of having the stronger and most obvious "plot", enhanced by Gerard Depardieu's tremendous performance as a man seeking to realise his vision in the face of insurmountable odds. But that is, as "Manon des Sources" reveals, only half the story, for beneath the tragedy of "Jean de Florette" is a much more tragic sequence of events. Slower, more reflective and, in the end, deeply moving, "Manon des Sources" is not simply a "follow-up" but the key to understanding the full story on offer.
Individually each "works" and, as such, stands in its own right as an excellent film, but it is only when seen together that their true power is revealed. You really do need to see both...
Rating:
Summary: Revenge is Sweet
Review: Set in the picturesque countryside of France, Manon, the daughter of Jean de Floret, remains behind being cared for by a neighbor while her mother goes to the city to find work. The death of her father keeps her from leaving the countryside to seek vengeance on Ugolin and his uncle Cesar, both of whom are responsible for his death.
Manon tends to the land keeping to herself. Captured by her beauty is Ugolin. To keep the family line from fading, he seeks out the young woman picking up the ribbon she has left behind sewing it to his heart.
When she discovers that both Ugolin and his uncle are responsible for the death of her father, she commits the perfect act that not only ruins both uncle and nephew, but wakes up the townspeople who have allowed themselves to be manipulated and controlled by Cesar.
The rural landscape of "Manon of the Spring" is a sigh of relief from the bustle of the city but it does explore the attitudes of the people that inhabit the place and their appreciation for the land and culture.
Rating:
Summary: Superb Sequel to "Jean de Florette"
Review: The gorgeous Emmanuelle Béart plays Manon of the Spring in this sequel to "Jean de Florette." She is Jean's daughter who comes to realize who destroyed her father by concealing the spring of water in their property. Their neighbor played by Yves Montand took the land for himself after destroying her father with the cooperation of the man who is now in love with her. Manon thus finds herself being able to avenge the wrong that these men did to her family. This is as universal a theme and plot, featuring deceit, greed, and revenge and the costs they entail, as could possibly be embraced and it is brought as flawlessly and seamlessly to the screen as its predecessor. Even if the movie weren't worth watching, and it is, Beart herself is a feast for the eyes. Both films showcase French filmmaking at its best.
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