One of my all-time favorite movie trilogies - along with Richard Linklater’s Before Trilogy, Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films, George Lucas’ original Star Wars trio [Episodes IV, V, VI], and Pixar/John Lasseter’s Toy Story series (even though it’s now actually a quartet), is the classic French series known as The Marseille Trilogy, consisting of Marius (1931), Fanny, (1932) and César (1936). All three are from the pen of French playwright/novelist Marcel Pagnol [The Well Digger’s Daughter (1940) Jean de Florette (1986) and Manon of the Spring (1986)], although he only directed the third and final entry in the series. And at a total of over six and a half hours combined, these three classic motion pictures are a great escape while sheltering at home.
Yes, these movies are from 85 years ago but, as I said, The Marseilles Trilogy is a classic – which means that all three films still seem remarkably fresh and entertaining. Plus, they give you a terrific view into another time and place. The category is Comedy-Romance-Melodrama, which covers a lot of bases. If you have never seen these great films, you owe it to yourself to give them a try. And if you saw any or all three of these gems quite a while ago, I think you will find it even more rewarding to re-visit them now. Aside from their innate, funny, earthy, heartwarming qualities, they are a wonderful antidote to the constraints of a shelter-in-place world – together comprising a solid seven hours of transporting entertainment.
And, if you didn’t know this already, these movies provide an explanation for why Alice Waters named her iconic Berkeley restaurant Chez Panisse, why her daughter is named Fanny and why an early offshoot of Chez Panisse is called César.
The Marseilles Trilogy is an earthy melodrama of the heart, but it is more than that. It is an intimate, sympathetic, humane portrait of a group of working-class people, salt of the earth folk, living and hanging out around the Marseille docks in the early 1930s. It’s a story of romantic love and familial love, fatuousness and folly, heart and heartbreak, smiles and tears abandonment and devotion; all of which told with a warm and wonderful sense of humor. These three films were a huge hit in France upon their release and were very popular internationally as well. In France they are considered a national treasure. While they have been remade, at least in part, more than once, it’s the originals that are the gold standard.
Marius, Fanny, and César tell a character-driven story. As the saga starts, with Marius, it is centered on the young man (called Marius, natch) and his relationships with his father, César; and young woman, Fanny, who has been in love with Marius since childhood. Marius is struggling to reconcile the tension between his desire for Fanny and his strong wanderlust: a dream of going to sea and seeing the world on one of the many ships plying trade in and out of Marseille harbor. And wondering if he’ll have the strength to break free from his domineering dad, as well. César runs a waterfront bar, a hangout for a variety of colorful salty dogs. Marius tends bar and generally fills in when his dad is otherwise engaged. Fanny sells cockles and the like from a stand near the bar on behalf of her larger-than-life fish-monger mother Honorine. Then there is César’s long-time friend and antagonist, the aging widower Honoré Panisse, a wealthy sailmaker; who is also Marius’s unlikely rival, harboring a hope of marrying Fanny himself (despite a staggering 30-year age difference) and producing an heir before it is too late. The other main character in the saga is the rough and tumble, blue collar world of Marseille harbor itself, circa 1930.
The cast is made up mostly of actors from the Marseille region, headed by Raimu – somewhat of a legend in his own time – as César. How to describe César? Imagine a cross between Jackie Gleason’s Ralph Cramden in the Honeymooners and Carroll O’Connor’s Archie Bunker in All In the Family; then throw in a bit of Tevya from Fiddler on the Roof; and make this composite a French bartender in 1930s Marseille, and you’ve got a pretty good start. He’s an irascible, argumentative, opinionated, good-hearted mensch; a memorable character and a force of nature. Like Ralph, Archie and Tevya, of course, he’s not an easy man (or father) to get along with. His son Marius does his best, but let’s just say that the generation gap did not start with American teenagers in the 50s or counter-cultural college students in the 60s.
This difference in outlook between père and fils is on full display from pretty much the first frame of the first film in the trilogy. While César is pompous and cocksure, conservative in his beliefs, and almost too comfortable in his own skin; Marius (Pierre Fresnay [Le Grande illusion(1937), Le Corbeau (1943)] is a dreamer, insecure, uncomfortable, and unsure about his future. The very idea of taking over the bar and becoming like his dad repulses him. He’s not ready for security or responsibility. He wants adventure, an escape from his chafing, insular life. Yet he clearly loves Fanny, even though he has not yet acknowledged this to anyone, including her. It’s just that right now, the sea calls out to him more loudly, with the lure of excitement and change. Fresnay, at 34, is a little old for the part, but no matter
Fanny (Orane Demazis [Les Miserables (1934)] is also looking for an escape - from Honorine’s matriarchal domination. She wants to start her new life, her real life, as an adult - a wife with a family of her own. She knows that Marius is her one true love, always has been. But to her, he’s not only reticent but positively dense on this subject. A comely, responsible girl, Fanny has now received another offer, and she can’t wait much longer. Demazis also seems a bit too old for her part initially (she was 36 at the time) but she grows into it as the series progresses.
Plot wise, all this is rather melodramatic, and more than a little trite. Yet, all I have disclosed is just the setup, evident from the first act of Marius, the first of the films. Complications ensue as they always do, but I won’t provide spoilers. except to say that the story becomes interesting-er and interesting-er as it moves. By the second movie, Fanny, the situation has changed significantly and, for reasons that become clear, the focus shifts. As with any trilogy, the further one goes along, the deeper it gets. So the drama in Fanny has greater nuance and depth, even while retaining its sense of humor, and the third and final film, César, set years later, explores a situation with characters that have evolved and matured considerably, facing a situation that would have been unimaginable from the early moments of Marius.
As I said before, this is very much a character-driven story; and the characterizations are terrific. They carry us along enchantingly, with the plot little more than a frame initially; and even as the story catches us up more and more, the characters sustain us with equal measure. In addition to the triumvirate of César, Marius and Fanny, there are also Panisse (Fernand Charpin) – proud, prickly, gentle, genteel, generous and warmhearted – and Fanny’s mom, the earthy, canny, flamboyant, motherly Honorine (Alida Rouffe), as I’ve mentioned already. Other members of the gang that frequently hangs out at César’s quayside tavern are Félix, the portly, equable, self-satisfied “captain” of the modest, under-used ferry that’s docked across the way; Piqu0iseau (Alexandre Mihalesco), a scrawny , dishevelled=looking old sailor still hanging around the docks; Mr. Brun, the dapper, cosmopolitan from Lyonwho has somehow fallen in with the salty denizens of César's, observing his companions as though he were doing some sort of anthropologic research. It is an affable group, even as it is mostly dominated by the mercurial, yet always entertaining César.
In the second and third pictures in the series, a few new characters arrive, as captivating as the originals, most notably Fanny’s unflappable Aunt Claudine, who in the midst of the family’s anguished, emotional reaction when it’s revealed that her unmarried niece is knocked up, matter-of-factly announces that dinner is served, adding that it may be a tragedy, but “we can still eat, no?”
And, in the third and final film, Panisse not only gets the respect that he deserves, but some of the best lines, as well. “Some things shouldn’t be said in front of a lady, even if ladies are involved,” he advises. There’s a lengthy deathbed scene, which is funny, endearing and wise all at once. For example, when the priest asks if he’d like to confess his sins, Panisse, never a religious man, at first desists. Eventually, he goes along, although he’s not sure what is considered a sin. “God’s commandments decide, not me” says the priest. César is enlisted to read Panisse the ten commandments, with the admonishment, “you could use a reminder, too.” Panisse has no problem with the first one (Thou shall have no other gods before me.), but then comes commandment number two, proscribing taking God’s name in vain. “That hits me hard,” says Panisse. “I’ve always sworn a lot.” “What Marseillais hasn’t?” the priest warmly admits. By the third commandment (thou shall not bear false witness …), Panisse is in deep water. “I lie a lot” he says. “Continually … several times a day.” “Especially to customers. If a salesman always told the truth, he’d never do any business”, he adds by way of explanation. When Panisse admits to fornication and apologies for the sin of enjoying it, César interjects, “If sinning made us suffer, we’d all be saints.“ And on it goes: honest, earthy, human and funny in the face of mortality.
And that perhaps sums up The Marseille Trilogy in a nutshell: it is endearingly honest, earthy, human and funny in the face of mortality. And despite the passage of nearly a century, despite the simple black and white photography, despite the superficial differences of our twenty-first century digital living and our more “modern” customs, César, Fanny, Marius, Panisse and the other characters still speak to us with voices that resonate and that are still fresh.
Total Time (three movies) 6.6 hours
Marius (1931) – 2 hours 27 minutes
Fanny (1932) – 2 hours 27 minutes
César (1936) – 2 hours 41 minutes
Grade: A+
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Each film available to rent individually from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu and other sites
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