The Baker’s Wife
La Femme du boulanger
France • 1938
Director
#986Criterion Collection →Synopsis
The warmth and wit of celebrated playwright turned cinema auteur Marcel Pagnol shine in this enchanting slice-of-life comedy. Returning to the Provençal countryside he knew intimately, Pagnol draws a vivid portrait of a close-knit village where the marital woes of a sweetly deluded baker (the inimitable Raimu, praised by no less than Orson Welles as “the greatest actor who ever lived”) snowball into a scandal that engulfs the town. Marrying the director’s abiding concern for the experiences of ordinary people with an understated but superbly judged visual style, THE BAKER’S WIFE is at once wonderfully droll and piercingly perceptive in its depiction of the complexities of human relationships.
Synopsis
The warmth and wit of celebrated playwright turned cinema auteur Marcel Pagnol shine in this enchanting slice-of-life comedy. Returning to the Provençal countryside he knew intimately, Pagnol draws a vivid portrait of a close-knit village where the marital woes of a sweetly deluded baker (the inimitable Raimu, praised by no less than Orson Welles as “the greatest actor who ever lived”) snowball into a scandal that engulfs the town. Marrying the director’s abiding concern for the experiences of ordinary people with an understated but superbly judged visual style, THE BAKER’S WIFE is at once wonderfully droll and piercingly perceptive in its depiction of the complexities of human relationships.
Credits
Crew
DirectorMarcel Pagnol
WriterMarcel Pagnol
CinematographerGeorges Benoît
ComposerVincent Scotto
EditorSuzanne de Troeye
ProducerMarcel Pagnol
Cast
Raimuas Aimable Castanier
Ginette Leclercas Aurélie Castanier
Charles Moulinas Dominique, le berger
Fernand Charpinas The Marquis Castan de Venelles