After Marius leaves Marseille, Fanny discovers she's pregnant with his child.

Picture gallery

It's been six weeks since Marius (Raphaël Personnaz) left for the sea, and Fanny (Victoire Bellezy) discovers she's pregnant. What she thought was depression after the departure of the man she loves turns out to be much more serious. There's no way she can tell her mother (Marie-Anne Chazel) she's going to have a child out of wedlock and that her lover is off across the water. Panisse (Jean-Pierre Darroussin), who's still in love with her, sees this as his chance to continue his family line. Making the choice she thinks is more reasonable, Fanny stops waiting for Marius to come home, especially since he hardly writes. His return to Marseille a few months later reignites the flame, but the die is cast: the families have chosen the baby's destiny.

Now that he's off in a boat, Marius shines with his absence in the second part of Marcel Pagnol's trilogy. His departure leaves room for characters with more depth, whose more refined accent finally gives voice to sentiments that are caught between propriety, social pressure and family expectations – which makes for a much more tragic range than the equivocation of the young sailor caught under his father's thumb in the first movie.