Marcel Paul Pagnol (; 28 February 1895 – 18 April 1974) was a French
novelist
A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...
filmmaker
Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...
. Regarded as an
auteur
An auteur (; , 'author') is an artist with a distinctive approach, usually a film director whose filmmaking control is so unbounded but personal that the director is likened to the "author" of the film, which thus manifests the director's unique ...
, in 1946, he became the first filmmaker elected to the Académie française. Although his work is less fashionable than it once was, Pagnol is still generally regarded as one of France's greatest 20th-century writers and is notable for the fact that he excelled in almost every medium—memoir, novel, drama and film.
Bouches-du-Rhône
Bouches-du-Rhône ( , , ; oc, Bocas de Ròse ; "Mouths of the Rhône") is a department in Southern France. It borders Vaucluse to the north, Gard to the west and Var to the east. The Mediterranean Sea lies to the south. Its prefecture and ...
department, in southern France near
Marseille
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...
, the eldest son of schoolteacher Joseph Pagnol and seamstress Augustine Lansot.Castans (1987), pp. 363–368 Marcel Pagnol grew up in Marseille with his younger brothers Paul and René, and younger sister Germaine.
School years
In July 1904, the family rented the ''Bastide Neuve'', – a house in the sleepy Provençal village of
La Treille
La Treille is a ''quartier'' on the outskirts of the 11th ''arrondissement'' of Marseille, in the Department of Bouches-du-Rhône, France. It has approximately 900 inhabitants. At the centre of the ''quartier'' is the seventeenth century hillsid ...
– for the summer holidays, the first of many spent in the hilly countryside between Aubagne and Marseille. About the same time, Augustine's health, which had never been robust, began to noticeably decline and on 16 June 1910 she succumbed to a chest
infection
An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dis ...
(''"mal de poitrine"'') and died, aged 36. Joseph remarried in 1912.
In 1913, at the age of 18, Marcel passed his
baccalaureate Baccalaureate may refer to:
* ''Baccalauréat'', a French national academic qualification
* Bachelor's degree, or baccalaureate, an undergraduate academic degree
* English Baccalaureate, a performance measure to assess secondary schools in England ...
in philosophy and started studying literature at the University in Aix-en-Provence. When
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
broke out, he was called up into the infantry at
Nice
Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...
but in January 1915 he was discharged because of his poor constitution (''"faiblesse de constitution'). On 2 March 1916, he married Simone Colin in Marseille and in November graduated in English. He became an English teacher, teaching in various local colleges and at a lycée in Marseille.
Career
Time in Paris
In 1922, he moved to
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
, where he taught English until 1927, when he decided instead to devote his life to playwriting. During this time, he belonged to a group of young writers, in collaboration with one of whom, Paul Nivoix, he wrote the play, ''Merchants of Glory'', which was produced in 1924. This was followed, in 1928, by '' Topaze'', a satire based on ambition. Exiled in Paris, he returned nostalgically to his Provençal roots, taking this as his setting for his play '' Marius'', which later became the first of his works to be adapted into a film in 1931.
Separated from Simone Collin since 1926 (though not divorced until 1941), he formed a relationship with the young English dancer Kitty Murphy. Their son Jacques Pagnol was born on 24 September 1930. (Jacques later became his father's assistant and subsequently a cameraman for France 3 Marseille.)
Filmmaking career
In 1929, on a visit to London, Pagnol attended a screening of one of the first talking films and he was so impressed that he decided to devote his efforts to cinema. He contacted Paramount Picture studios and suggested adapting his play ''Marius'' for cinema. This was directed by
Alexander Korda
Sir Alexander Korda (; born Sándor László Kellner; hu, Korda Sándor; 16 September 1893 – 23 January 1956) It became one of the first successful French-language talking films.
In 1932 Pagnol founded his own film production studios in the countryside near Marseille. Over the next decade Pagnol produced his own films, taking many different roles in the production – financier, director, script writer, studio head, and foreign-language script translator – and employing the greatest French actors of the period. On 4 April 1946, Pagnol was elected to the Académie française, taking his seat in March 1947, the first filmmaker to receive this honour.
Themes of Pagnol's films
In his films, Pagnol transfers his playwriting talents onto the big screen. His editing style is somberly reserved, placing emphasis on the content of an image. As a pictorial naturalist, Pagnol relies on film as art to convey a deeper meaning rather than solely as a tool to tell a story. Pagnol also took great care in the type of actors he employed, hiring local actors to appear in his films to highlight their unique accents and culture. Like his plays, Pagnol's films emphasize dialogue and musicality. The themes of many of Pagnol's films revolve around the acute observation of social rituals. Using interchangeable symbols and recurring character roles, such as proud fathers and rebellious children, Pagnol illuminates the provincial life of the lower class. Notably, Pagnol also frequently compares women and land, showing both can be barren or fertile. Above all, Pagnol uses all this to illustrate the importance of human bonds and their renewal.
As a novelist
In 1945, Pagnol remarried, to Jacqueline Bouvier (the actress Jacqueline Pagnol). They had two children together, Frédéric (born 1946) and Estelle (born 1949). Estelle died at the age of two. Pagnol was so devastated that he fled the south and returned to live in Paris. He went back to writing plays, but after his next piece was badly received he decided to change his job once more and began writing a series of autobiographical novels – ''
Souvenirs d'enfance
''Souvenirs d'enfance'' ("Souvenirs of infancy", "Childhood memories") is a series of autobiographical novels by French filmmaker and Académie française, ''académicien'', Marcel Pagnol (1895–1974).''Books and Writers'' ''Souvenirs d'enfance' ...
'' – based on his childhood experiences.
In 1957, the first two novels in the series, '' La Gloire de mon père'' and '' Le château de ma mère'' were published to instant acclaim. The third ''Le Temps des secrets'' was published in 1959, the fourth '' Le Temps des Amours'' was to remain unfinished and was not published until 1977, after his death. In the meantime, Pagnol turned to a second series, '' L'Eau des Collines'' – '' Jean de Florette'' and '' Manon des Sources'' – which focused on the machinations of Provençal peasant life at the beginning of the twentieth century and were published in 1962.
Pagnol adapted his own film ''Manon des Sources'', with his wife Jacqueline in the title role, into two novels, '' Jean de Florette'' and ''Manon des Sources'', collectively titled '' L'Eau des Collines''.
Death
Marcel Pagnol died in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
on 18 April 1974. He is buried in Marseille at the cemetery ''La Treille'', along with his mother, father, brothers, and wife. His boyhood friend, David Magnan (''Lili des Bellons'' in the autobiographies), died at the
Second Battle of the Marne
The Second Battle of the Marne (french: Seconde Bataille de la Marne) (15 July – 18 July 1918) was the last major German offensive on the Western Front during the First World War. The attack failed when an Allied counterattack, supported by s ...
in July 1918, and is buried nearby.
Translations
Pagnol was also known for his translations of
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
(from English) and
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...
(from
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
):
*1944 : ''Le Songe d'une nuit d'été'' ('' A Midsummer Night's Dream'') by William Shakespeare, first presented in 1947, at the Grand Théâtre de Monaco; Paris, Œuvres complètes, Club de l'Honnête Homme, 1971
*1947 : ''
Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
'' by William Shakespeare, Paris, Nagel
*1958 : ''Bucoliques'' ('' The Eclogues'') by Virgil, Paris, Grasset
Pagnol's ''Hamlet'' is still performed in France, although some have criticized his portrayal of Hamlet as somewhat effeminate.
Daniel Auteuil
Daniel Auteuil (; born 24 January 1950) is a French actor and director who has appeared in a wide range of film genres, including period dramas, romantic comedies, and crime thrillers. In 1996 he won the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Fest ...
.
In 2013, '' Marius'' and '' Fanny'' were remade by Daniel Auteuil.
Awards
* 1939: Best foreign film for ''Harvest'' - New York Film Critics Circle Awards
* 1940: Best foreign film for ''The Baker's Wife'' - New York Film Critics Circle Awards
* 1950: Best foreign film for ''Jofroi'' - New York Film Critics Circle Awards
Tribute
On February 28, 2020,
Google
Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
celebrated his 125th birthday with a
Google Doodle
A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running an ...
Angèle
Angèle is a given name. Notable people with the name include:
*Angèle (singer) (born Angèle Van Laeken, 1995), Belgian singer
* Angèle Dola Akofa Aguigah (born 1955), Togolese archaeologist
* Angèle Arsenault (1943–2014), Canadian-Acadi ...
Le Schpountz Le schpountz is a 1999 French film directed by Gérard Oury (a remake of the 1938 film '' Heartbeat'' by Marcel Pagnol). Irénée does not want to work in his uncle's grocery shop and spends his time dreaming of becoming an actor. Irénée's chance ...
'' (1938)
* ''
La Femme du boulanger
''The Baker's Wife'' (french: La femme du boulanger) is a 1938 French drama film directed by Marcel Pagnol. It is based on the novel '' Blue Boy'' by French author Jean Giono and became the basis of the American musical ''The Baker's Wife''.
It t ...
The Ways of Love
''The Ways of Love'' is a 1950 anthology film.
The film features three segments, Jean Renoir's "A Day in the Country", Marcel Pagnol's "Jofroi", and Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Gastone Zeffiro Rossellini (8 May 1906 – 3 June 1977) was an It ...
Fernandel
Fernand Joseph Désiré Contandin (8 May 1903 – 26 February 1971), better known as Fernandel, was a French actor and singer. Born near Marseille, France, to Désirée Bedouin and Denis Contandin, originating in Perosa Argentina, an Occitan t ...
* ''Merchants of Glory'' (1925, theatre play)
* ''Jazz'' (1926, theatre play)
* '' Topaze'' (1928, theatre play)
* '' Marius'' (1929, theatre play)
* '' Fanny'' (1932, theatre play)
* '' César'' (1936, theatre play)
* '' La Gloire de mon père and Le Château de ma mère'' (1957,
autobiographies
An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life.
It is a form of biography.
Definition
The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...