In the original Marseille trilogy - Marius, Alexander Korda; Fanny, Yves Allegret, and Cesar, Marcel Pagnol - the second part, Fanny, was the weakest link. This may have been due to the fact that Orane Demazis (the original Fanny on both stage and screen) was a better girl-friend (to Pagnol) than she was an actress, which was unfortunate because the second part is built around the character of Fanny. By contrast the second part of Daniel Auteuil's remake of the trilogy is light years ahead of his first part, Marius, possibly because his non-actor 'pretty- boy' Marius (Raphael Personnaz) is missing for the lion's share of the running time and the actress playing Fanny, Victoire Belezy leaves Personnaz dead in the water. Once again Marie-Anne Chazal is outstanding as Honrine but this time Auteuil throws in a great bonus in the shape of Ariane Ariscade as Claudine. This brilliant actress is, of course, the wife of Robert Guideguian and an integral part of his repertory company and so is used to acting with Jean-Pierre Darroussin in her husband's excellent Marseilles-based films so it is ironic that she as Claudine she has minimal contact with Darroussin's Panisse. In this second segment Auteuil dispenses with the gimmick's (La Mer, etc) that marred Marius and let's the fine ensemble cast get on with acting the bejeezus out of Pagnol's great humane story. Far superior to Marius and if the third segment, Cesar - which will be released next year - is as good then we are in for a real treat.
Review of Fanny
