did you cry?


I know it's a personal thing, but some people cry loads at any films they watch and some don't ever. I know people that didn't cry at E.T and i know people who did when they watched The Breakfast Club.
So.... just to share my experience, I completely sobbed when he's speaking to the old woman, even before she said it and i knew what was coming. I didn't stop for about an hour, and then i cried again when i thought about it in bed. I'm a 23 year old man and I've never been like that before and hadn't cried at all since seeing The Green Mile about four years ago, but it was so beautifully done, i couldn't help it.
Does anyone agree or am i a proper girl?

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WARNING ~~ SPOILERS BELOW!!

I have to tell you, it was anti-climatic for me. The first movie sets up the premise that Cesar was very much in love with Florette by the way he talked about her--and then she left. You just knew there was more of a relationship between the two besides his simple wistful yearning. I expected it to be revealed at the end of the first movie after the death of Jean, for it would have been the proper twist (punishment) that would have totally devastated Cesar--as it did in the second. And when it didn't happen, I thought--boy did I get that wrong! LOL! Yeah, so in the second movie when he's sitting with that blind woman and she starts mentioning a letter, I knew; here it finally comes--it's about time! So, a little anti-climatic for me (and I'm sure others).

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I didn't cry. I wasn't sad at all.

Le Papet was a totally despicable character. He was evil, calculating, obsessed with greed and family pride. He was a remorseless murderer! (And I'm not talking about Jean, but about the Camoins that he killed near the tree)

I can certainly appreciate the irony of the situation, but I can't imagine anyone feeling sad or sorry for such an odious character.

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I cried, and I do so at this point every time I rewatch these two films - it is a tragedy in the truest sense of the word. Cesar's immorality simply adds to the pain, loss and grief of the moment. Montand's acting is breathtakingly real as you see the character's dawning realisation of the results of his actions, and unlike Ugolin he is fully intelligent enough to understand this fully, so it hits him like a sledgehammer. Although he has been a thoroughly villainous character, you get a sense (not least through Montand's supreme acting skills) that he has/had potentially much better personal qualities, he seems at last to realise this himself, too late, and this adds to his torment. This scene remains as the most moving, painful and sad that I have ever seen on film.

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Somehow I went beyond tears at this - the expression of total devastation on Montand's face as he realizes what he has missed, and the destruction his machinations have caused, all because of something that wasn't actually his fault, a twist of fate: a letter he never received. I played it back several times just to watch that expression on his face - masterful. An Oscar moment for Montand.

"I don't use a pen: I write with a goose quill dipped in venom!"---W. Lydecker

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[deleted]

This was probably Yves Montand's best movie. He was fantastic in all the pieces starting from the initial places where he urges Ugolin to get married to continue the line of the Soubeyrans, to how ruthless he is about his schemes with Jean and ending with his devastation in the end when he finds that Manon is his blood. The movie is a masterpiece of French theater. The movie is superb in all aspects starting from the beginning when the music stirs me. I can picture myself in the Romarin valley watching Cesar and Ugolin with their carnations. The only problem with the movie might be that it may not appeal to some people as it is perceived to be too melodramatic (Ugolin's suicide etc). I personally found it to be among the best French movies in the last 30 years (I cannot rate it above the Jean Renoir movies).

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Yes! I'm a guy too... and pretty impervious to attempts at tear-jerking. i.e. I hate the crappy, hokey & unoriginal Cinema Paradiso.
But the last half an hour of Manon just wipes me out.

[SPOILERS]
As for viewers not crying because the Soubeyrans are evil... (eyes roll) yeah there's that, but the payback is so specific & horrible, that you just pity the poor *beep* Everything he ever wanted, he turns out to have ruined himself. What makes viewers different from the Soubeyrans is that a viewer has a heart. If you're worried about some mechanical kind of justice... for god's sake, justice is delivered in this movie.

Things start flowing at...
* ...Ugolin's suicide - it always makes my eyes brim over. He's just a poor, misguided soul, led astray by his uncle.
* Soubeyran bringing flowers to the family grave while the wedding is going on.
* Soubeyran offered shelter in the rain by the teacher, but rejecting it.
* The revelation from Florette (!!!!!!!!!)
* Soubeyrans' deathbed preparations and the revelation of his body in the morning makes me blubber like a girl.

You should have seen it in the theater! As the creits rolled, all you could hear was people blowing their noses. This is one of the saddest endings I've ever seen. You cry not just from pity, but over the wasted opportunities, and the needless cruelty of the 1st movie.

I think only the major revelation in the Joy Luck Club comes close.

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It's interesting to note that the actor who played Ugolin married the actress who played Manon.

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SPOILERS BELOW!

lol! In the film, Ugolin seems just too ugly and base to even have a chance with Manon, and yet in real life... It goes to show how good the acting was.

I have to agree with the above posters too - the final scene is a real tear-jerker and a tragedy in the true sense of the world. Cesar's machinations are what killed his son, ruined his son's family and brought the hatred of his grand-daughter.

I think Cesar, though despicable, did have some redeeming qualities: he was very dedicated to his family (as seen through his mentorship and guidance of his nephew Ugolin), so I often wonder how different things would have been had he known that Jean was his son. I am sure he would have been welcomed into the heart of the family and everyone would have prospered, but sadly it wasn't to be all because a letter went missing and Cesar was merciless.

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salmoni on Wed Apr 23 2008 01:35:46 writes:

SPOILERS BELOW!

lol! In the film, Ugolin seems just too ugly and base to even have a chance with Manon, and yet in real life... It goes to show how good the acting was.
This movie showed just how well Daniel Auteuil can act. I've seen him in a dozen or so movies since. He can act comedy as well has high-brow and low-brow characters and he's always very good.
...... so I often wonder how different things would have been had he known that Jean was his son. I am sure he would have been welcomed into the heart of the family and everyone would have prospered, but sadly it wasn't to be all because a letter went missing and Cesar was merciless.
But then again, there wouldn't have been a story. It can be seen as a salutory lesson in what can happen when people are too proud to communicate honestly. I've seen real-life consequences (though maybe not quite as tragic as this one). There's a kind of irony in a kind of happy ending: Despite all the tragedy, ultimately the family does inherit the land, just rather differently from how Cesar had in mind.

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Yves Montand's muted reaction when she tells him that he was Jean's father was so moving, I couldn't help myself.

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i was 9 the first time i saw this and could barly keep up with the sub-titles... so, no, i didnt cry ;)

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His reaction to the revelation is heart wrenching. I too found myself replaying the scene. It was phenomenal.

Cesar's death preparations and death also had me crying my little eyes out.

All because of a lost letter. It breaks my heart.

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to the OP,

you are not a proper girl. I cried when I saw him cry after speaking to the old lady, and refusing the shelter when it was offered to him, also when he brings flowers to Ugolin's gravesite.

Would you classify that as a launch problem or a design problem?-Real Genius

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I didn't cry at that scene as such, though it is by far my favourite scene in any film that I have ever seen. I have to agree with most of the posters on here (and a real pleasure reading them) that Yves Montand's stunning acting in this scene deserved at Oscar on its own. It was one of those moments that will remain with me for the rest of my life.






The next sentence is the truth. The last sentence is a lie.

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