I couldn't believe the dialogue when Fanny steps into the garage and says, right in front of her son, to his biological father, that Panisse (Fanny's husband and his father for all he knew) that "Pannise is dying." And it doesn't seem to register on the kid actor at all. Ending the movie with him jumping on the trampoline. I know at that age, if I had any inkling that my beloved father was ill in any way, I would not have been jumping on a trampoline!
shareThat’s one way to look at it, but I think in the context of the story, even this apparent 'faux pas' makes sense.
First, Panisse is an older man; we can assume he was not always in the best of health. At his bedside, Cesar, Honorine and their friend, Monsieur Brun, talk about a previous time, five years prior, when Panisse was ‘on his deathbed’ but somehow, due to his stubbornness, got up and went about his business. This time does seem more serious but it was probably a pattern.
My point is the young Cesario, who is about ten, has probably lived his entire life thinking his father can either go at any time or recover from anything. Panisse’s health or pending doom was probably the concern and reaction of everyone around him whenever he came down with the slightest ailment. Then, before long, he’d be well enough again and all was fine. Almost a routine, hearing this proclamation from his mother, at that time, would likely not come as a big shock. Remember, the young Cesario had been accustomed to hearing the whispers and seeing the reactions of the adults around him. Like most kids, he was a lot more tuned in to and savvy about what was really going on in that household than the adults thought or for which he was given credit.
Whatever Fanny thought about Panisse's condition, I can understand why she blurts out 'he's dying' at that moment; and it has nothing to do with informing her son of his father's imminent death. The adrenaline was already pumping. She was frantically searching for her missing child. This already made her anxious but then she finds him with, of all people, Marius. That triggers all sorts of strong and mixed emotions in her she wasn't prepared to have. I don't want it to sound callous but I think she says what she says more for Marius' ears than for Cesario's. I don't think it's what she would have wanted to say but in the moment people subconsciously say things they could otherwise contain. For the movie, it's a brilliant way to move them quickly from that scene to the next. Otherwise, they would have had to say something to each other; there'd have to be a discussion between them, if not then but at some later point. If not, it would have left a huge, strange, gaping hole in the plot. To fix it, the movie would have had to be a lot longer and it was already longer than most.
Naturally, Marius, never having heard this before, reacts in exactly the way he does; with urgency but there's also an oddly exciting anticipation filled with possibility. If you look at things from little Cesario’s viewpoint, he may not have completely understood his mother’s reaction but he probably realized there was more to it than what she says; maybe it's just to get him to come home.
Cesario was, after all, asking Marius, someone he’d never met and didn’t know except through other people’s whispered conversations, to take him away with him to America. Marius is loved but just as his Marius had felt all those years ago, that love was smothering him; keeping him from experiencing life. This may be part of the reason he’s so enamored with the idea of meeting Marius. This is the only person he knows of who has actually experienced life in a way that interests Cesario. Marius is talked about in a way that makes him sound intriguing, mysterious, and fun. He’s heard he’s been at sea, which would sound as, if not more, adventurous and enticing to him than it did to the young Marius. Marius is to Cesario what the Admiral was for Marius. It’s interesting that it’s the Admiral is the one who connects them to each other and brings them together.
Cesario has lived far from the shore but he’s heard so many stories from his grandmother and other relatives about the shore. They always speak so fondly of it. Cesar, his godfather, namesake, and dear friend, lives near the shore yet Cesario’s never been anywhere near there. He has lived a sheltered, pampered life, kept in town surrounded by people who are much older than him and not a whole lot of fun. It makes perfectly good sense he would long to meet the young Marius. He’s older now but the people who knew him speak of the young man they knew. When he meets him, even though Marius has changed, Cesario doesn’t know that. To him, Marius is still young; still able and willing to have fun with Cesario in a way no one else in that household ever has or could. They connect immediately.
Jumping on the trampoline with his new friend, someone he feels he’s always known, rather than running to his father’s side is completely understandable for all those reasons. It’s also Cesario’s birthday. He’s longed to be taken to the circus. Now, he arrives to find it right in front of him. What child wouldn’t go for that right away? It doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about Panisse. It just means he’s a kid. Just as he gets distracted, leaves his grandmother, wanders around then ventures off while at the waterfront; even going off with a total stranger on a boat ride, he’s attracted by things that interest and excite him and are right in front of him at the moment. That’s how the minds of most kids (and many immature adults) work.