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Jean de Florette is a novel by Marcel Pagnol, published in 1966. It was adapted into a critically acclaimed and commercially successful 1986 French language motion picture.

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Movie

Nominated for eight César Awards, the film has been selected by the New York Times as one of "The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made." The book's sequel,

The action takes place in a small village in the south of France, shortly after the First World War. Cesar Soubeyran and his nephew, Ugolin, are desperate to buy a farm whose owner they accidentally killed. In order to get the farm at a good price, they stop up the natural spring that provides water to the land. The farm is then inherited by Jean, a hunchbacked tax collector whose late mother, Florette, was once Cesar's girlfriend. Although he valiantly tries to reap the harvests of his land, the hunchback, his wife and daughter are reduced to poverty and desperation by the lack of water. In the end, Jean is killed in an accident as a result of his attempts to find ways of supplying water to his land. However, his young daughter, Manon, suspects the Soubeyrans of being responsible. In the sequel, she obtains her revenge.