Repost: The Well Digger's Daughter (January 4th and 6th at the Cleveland Cinematheque)

[THE WELL DIGGER'S DAUGHTER screens Friday January 4th at 7:30 pm and Sunday January 6th at 4:00 pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.]

Review by Charles Cassady, Jr.

Watching THE WELL DIGGER’S DAUGHTER gave me the mild suspicion that under the guise of an ultra-serious foreign drama I was watching a subversive satire of ultra-serious foreign dramas, one that was going right over my poorly paid head. It’s happened to me before. I won’t give exact circumstances, but it was a Russian import, and local filmmaker Laura Paglin could tell you all about my mistake in not getting the joke.

THE WELL DIGGER’S DAUGHTER is a remake of a 1940 French picture of the same title (LA FILLE DU PUISATIER) from revered filmmaker Marcel Pagnol (1894-1974). Monsieur Pagnol specialized in rural or seaside dramas, set well outside perennial locale Paris, depicting life, love, infidelity and family stuff amidst the rustics. And while he is well-remembered by cinemaphiles, a common interpretation is that he was part of the stodgy old guard of visually unimaginative French filmmakers against whom the young upstarts of the New Wave like Godard, Truffault, Chabrol etc. openly rebelled.

The Well Digger’s Daughter (October 20th and 21st at the Cleveland Cinematheque)

[THE WELL DIGGER'S DAUGHTER screens Saturday October 20th at 7:25 pm and Sunday October 21st at 4:00 pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.]

Review by Charles Cassady, Jr.

Watching THE WELL DIGGER’S DAUGHTER gave me the mild suspicion that under the guise of an ultra-serious foreign drama I was watching a subversive satire of ultra-serious foreign dramas, one that was going right over my poorly paid head. It’s happened to me before. I won’t give exact circumstances, but it was a Russian import, and local filmmaker Laura Paglin could tell you all about my mistake in not getting the joke.

THE WELL DIGGER’S DAUGHTER is a remake of a 1940 French picture of the same title (LA FILLE DU PUISATIER) from revered filmmaker Marcel Pagnol (1894-1974). Monsieur Pagnol specialized in rural or seaside dramas, set well outside perennial locale Paris, depicting life, love, infidelity and family stuff amidst the rustics. And while he is well-remembered by cinemaphiles, a common interpretation is that he was part of the stodgy old guard of visually unimaginative French filmmakers against whom the young upstarts of the New Wave like Godard, Truffault, Chabrol etc. openly rebelled.