In the Name of the Father

Marcel Pagnol’s series of three films, Marius, Fanny and César, usually referred to as ‘the trilogy’, has conformed to the fate of many truly popular classics: adored by the public – they were all box-office hits – the films were put down by contemporary critics as bad boulevard theatre or Marseillais melodramas (Bardèche and Brasillach 1948, 411). Pagnol did not seem to care and would blithely declare ‘I only write about clichés’ (Leprohon 1976, 388). Such professed candour, however, was underpinned by considerable intellectual and economic assets.