7:15 pm | French with English Subtitles | (1938) | Comedy. Drama/Black and white | 2h 13m | “The Baker’s Wife” is made possible by the generosity of “The Bakery” – New Paltz & “Le Canard Enchaine” – Kingston
Originally titled La Femme du Boulanger, French filmmaker Marcel Pagnol returns once again to the Procencal countryside he knew intimately. The Baker’s Wife is an enchanting slice-of-life comedy from 1938. The peace of a Provençal village is shattered when the baker’s beautiful, and bored wife runs off with a handsome shepherd. Who is a distinct contrast to her middle aged husband Raimu, who sports a rather “lived in look”. In his despair, Raimu (the only baker in town) becomes heartbroken and can no longer bake. The villagers organise themselves to bring the wife back to her husband and so regain their daily bread. An amusing satire about life in a tiny town and the warmth and wit of auteur Pagnol shines through this droll and perceptive examination of relationships and their complications.
Shortly after middle-aged baker Aimable (Raimu) settles down in a new village in Provence, his young and beautiful wife, Aurelie (Ginette Leclerc), runs away with an attractive young shepherd. The combination of his wife’s desertion and the townspeople’s initial mockery of his predicament causes the baker to close his shop in despair. Faced with the dire possibility of life without Aimable’s breads, the townspeople attempt to persuade his unfaithful wife to come back.
Director: Marcel Pagnol
Stars: Raimu, Ginette Leclerc, Fernand Charpin