My Father's Glory (La Gloria de Mon Pere) poster & wallpaper
Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites

Philippe Caubčre, Nathalie Roussel, Didier Pain, Therese Liotard, Julien Ciamaca ... see more see more... , Victorien Delamare , Joris Molinas , Paul Crauchet , Raoul Curet , Jean-Pierre Darras , Benjamin Detriche , Victor Garrivier , Maxime Lombard , Michele Loubet , Rene Loyon , Pierre Maguelon , Benoît Martin , Michel Modo , Jean Rougerie , Gerard Moulevrier , Louis Lalanne

This 1990 French film presents idyllic episodes from the childhood of novelist and filmmaker Marcel Pagnol (1895-1974). Together, the episodes present a portrait of an ordinary family with an extraord... read more read more...inary ability to love. Set in Provencal in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the film first introduces members of the family, including Marcel (Julien Ciamaca). When he is still a preschooler, his father Joseph, a teacher, takes him to classes to watch over him. Marcel, however, learns along with the other children and starts to read out loud in class. Astonished, Joseph (Philippe Caubčre) writes a sentence on the blackboard and asks, "What does that say?" Marcel, reading the words, says, "The father is proud of his little boy." This little scene establishes the tone and meaning of the film. Flashing ahead seven years, the camera then follows the Pagnols after they leave Marseilles for a summer vacation in the Provencal countryside, there to bask in the simplicity of rural life. From then on, it is not what happens to the family that engages audiences; it is how it happens -- with a quiet exuberance and joie de vivre. Besides Marcel and his father, the vacationers include his mother, Augustine (Nathalie Roussel), a beautiful and kindly homemaker; Marcel's little brother Paul (Victorien Delamare); and his Uncle Jules (Didier Pain) and Aunt Rose (Thérčse Liotard). After they arrive at their cottage, 11-year-old Marcel wastes no time wading into the greenery in search of adventure. What he finds is another adventuresome boy, Lili de Bellons (Joris Molinas), a native of the region. They become friends and fellow explorers, capturing cicadas, climbing rocks, and even invading an eagle's cave. Sometimes they just have fun shouting to hear an echo boomeranging back. At meal times -- often outdoors -- fresh fruit and good-natured repartee satisfy appetites. For spectator sport, the diners listen to the occasional religious arguments between Uncle Jules, a God-fearing Catholic, and Joseph, a God-doubting agnostic. Augustine and Aunt Rose avoid the polemics, for they have more important matters on their minds: keeping house, watching children, and planning the next day's menu. And then the film takes a turn toward real drama. Uncle Jules, full of tales about his prowess as a hunter, persuades Joseph, full of ignorance about guns and hunting, to go on a bird hunt. Woe is Papa, Marcel thinks. When the day of the great hunt arrives, Marcel secretly follows Joseph and Uncle Jules into the woods, setting the stage for the film's climactic moment. ~ Mike Cummings, Rovi

Flixster Users

85% liked it

4,216 ratings

Critics

100% liked it

5 critics

G, 1 hr. 50 min.

Directed by: Yves Robert

Release Date: August 29, 1990

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: September 2, 2003

Get It:

Stats: 186 reviews

report incorrect info

Photos

My Father's Glory (La Gloria de Mon Pere)
Upload a Photo | View All My Father's Glory (La Gloria de Mon Pere) Photos

Your Rating


clear rating

Flixster Reviews (186)

  • wanbaclone
    July 13, 2011
    wanbaclone
    I had never been interested in visiting Paris until I read Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast. Paris had flesh after that. I could visualize it. The details Hemingway relates make me wish I could have been a starving artist in love as he was at the time. Maybe I could have r... read moreun into Ezra Pound.

    My Father's Glory, a film about the memoirs of Marcel Pagnol, did the same for me in regards to Marseille and Aubagne. The movie never tries to portray a realistic Marseille at the beginning of the 20th century. Instead, it's an idealized remembrance of Pagnol's childhood in which no one gets into a quarrel that can't be solved by mealtime, and everyone feels the joys of life and love.

    The movie takes place throughout Pagnol's childhood; however, the second half of the film deals with a particularly vivid summer holiday in which Pagnol escapes into the French hills. Along the way, Pagnol takes pride in his father's successes and also meets a friend who teaches him how to trap fowl and navigate the landscape. A favorite scene of mine has the two friends hunkered in a cavern watching a lightning storm play out among the scrublands below them.

    The back of the DVD jacket will tell you that the plot revolves around a hunting match, but nothing could be further from the truth. The movie has no major conflict, no problem that must be solved. There's a conclusion, and the young Pagnol does learn a valuable lesson; yet, it's an afterthought. The meat of the movie is the photography and whimsical interaction between characters. It's more a series of short sketches than a cohesive story. Delightful is the best adjective to use.

    I found myself chuckling on several occasions at the comic timing. It's not funny, but it is very amusing and endearing. This is a rare movie in which you do not laugh at the characters but with them. I half expected any one of the them to turn to the camera and wink just to remind me they were in on the joke too, as if to say, "It's OK. We know you're not laughing at us. Go on. Have a good time."

    The only bittersweet moments in the film come when we realize (along with our young protagonist) that the fun can't last. When he realizes he only has a day or two left of his holiday before going back to school, we are crushed that we'll be leaving the French countryside along with him.

    What I couldn't understand was how this movie wasn't nominated for the foreign language Academy Award. After checking the IMDb, I figured it out. Cyrano de Bergerac, a classic of modern French cinema, was released the same year and took the spot as France's official entry. It's too bad. My Father's Glory would have had a good chance of winning too.
  • leeguess2005
    July 13, 2011
    leeguess2005
    French cinema at its best. The value of family and memories shines through in this autobiographical piece.
  • iconjunkie
    July 13, 2011
    iconjunkie
    It's a nice story about family but I think watching it in my French class full of students with a low maturity level ruined part of it.

View All My Father's Glory (La Gloria de Mon Pere) Reviews

Critic Reviews

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
July 19, 2003
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice

Shows how the embrace of place enables us to nourish our inner identity and to stretch our consciousness Full Review

Vincent Canby
May 20, 2003
Vincent Canby, New York Times

Click to read the article Full Review

Rita Kempley
January 1, 2000
Rita Kempley, Washington Post

Click to read the article Full Review

Desson Thomson
January 1, 2000
Desson Thomson, Washington Post

Click to read the article Full Review

Roger Ebert
January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Click to read the article Full Review

August 29, 1990
Entertainment Weekly

Click to read the article Full Review

Emanuel Levy
June 30, 2005
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

No review available.

Steve Davis
January 1, 2000
Steve Davis, Austin Chronicle

Click to read the article Full Review

February 9, 2006
Time Out

Click to read the article Full Review

January 1, 2000
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

Click to read the article Full Review

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Cast

More Like This

This list looks lonely.
Add a suggestion!

Facts

No facts approved yet. Be the first

My Father's Glory... : Watch Free on TV

My Father's Glory (La Gloria de Mon Pere) Trivia

Movie Quizzes

No quizzes for My Father's Glory (La Gloria de Mon Pere). Want to create one?

Video Clips

No video clips yet. Want to upload one?

Meet Other Fans

Add My Father's Glory (La Gloria de Mon Pere) to favorites

Recent News

No recent headlines. Got one?

Recent Lists

Make a List |

View All Lists

Most Popular Skin

No skins yet. Interested in creating one?