Jean de Florette Quotes

  • Cesar Soubeyran: Now let's talk about other things. I'm going to write to Scratcher.

    Ugolin: Who's she?

    Cesar Soubeyran: You don't know her because she left here before you were born. She had the body of an angel. They called her Scratcher because when the boys tried to kiss her she scratched their faces. She used to sharpen her nails especially. But because of this she ended up a spinster and when her parents died she went to work for the priest at Mimet. About 4 or 5 years ago the pope moved him to Crespin and she should still be with him.

    Ugolin: So long as she didn't scratch him.

    Cesar Soubeyran: Oh, at her age you don't scratch people, and because she was a friend of Florette she must still visit her. I'm going to write immediately.

    Ugolin: And if she's dead?

    Cesar Soubeyran: Not everyone my age is dead.

  • Cesar Soubeyran: A farmer may become a hunchback but it's rare for a hunchback to become a farmer.

  • Casimir: I suppose you are going to be charitable and buy the farm?

    Ugolin: That depends, what do you think it is worth?

    Casimir: Not much, certainly not the life of a man.

  • Cesar Soubeyran: What kind of man is he?

    Ugolin: He's a typical city-hunchback type.

  • Cesar Soubeyran: If you start to strangle a cat, finish it off.

  • Cesar Soubeyran: I know all about springs. They're like pretty girls - ignore them and they're gone.

  • Cesar Soubeyran: A farmer may grow a hump, but a hunchback rarely becomes a farmer.

  • Cesar Soubeyran: Remember, it's much easier to push something downhill than uphill, so push him in the direction where he'll fall.

  • Ugolin: It's not me that's crying. It's my eyes.

  • [first lines]

    [dialog in French, lines from English subtitles]

    Ugolin: Papet! Papet! It's me, Ugolin!

  • [last lines]

    [dialog in French, lines from English subtitles]

    Cesar Soubeyran: In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, I hereby name you King of Carnations!

  • Cesar Soubeyran: [to Ugolin] It's over here. See. The spring was by the fig tree. Don't look back! Old man Camoins dug a trench that went down to the end of the field there. That way, the water just ran downhill. Understand? Look by my foot. See how soggy the ground is? The water's blocked, but it'd be easy to release it. That slob let it all go to waste!

  • Cesar Soubeyran: So, you're the heir?

    Cousin: No. We were only distant cousins.

    Cesar Soubeyran: Ah, but you'll get something.

    Cousin: No, it'll all go to his sister, Florette.

    Cesar Soubeyran: Is she still alive?

    Cousin: Why shouldn't she be? She's younger than you! I heard her husband had died, but not her.

    Ugolin: Who's this Florette?

  • Cesar Soubeyran: [to Ugolin] Let's say you pass by with a load of cement? You trip, you fall and bang! The cement plugs up the opening!

  • Cesar Soubeyran: [to Ugolin] He'll sell it. A pen makes less blisters than a pickaxe.

  • Ugolin: Is that why you rented this old farm?

    Jean de Florette: I didn't rent it.

    Ugolin: Did you buy it?

    Jean de Florette: I didn't buy it either, but it's all mine.

    Ugolin: You're not Jean de Florette, are you?

    Jean de Florette: I'm Jean, and my mother was Florette. But my real name is Jean Cadoret.

    Ugolin: If you'd been born here, it would be Jean de Florette.

  • Jean de Florette: I also own a spring.

    Ugolin: What spring? Where?

    Jean de Florette: It's marked on the land register. Come and take a look. Maybe you can help me locate it.

  • Manon Cadoret enfant: [to Jean] Daddy! There's no more water.

  • Cesar Soubeyran: [to Ugolin] Galinette! If this heat wave keeps up his corn and the other vegetables will be wiped out.

  • Jean de Florette: I'm a hunchback! Have you forgotten that? Do you think that's easy?

    Aimee Cadoret: Jean...

    Jean de Florette: Isn't there no one, anybody up there? There's nobody up there! I'm a hunchback! Do you think that's easy? There's nobody up there.

  • Aimee Cadoret: So you won't sell?

    Jean de Florette: Of course not! I'll never sell the house where my mother was born, and where I hope to live forever until I die as a rich man! We can get by quite well on four thousand francs! I'll buy a mule, a load of miner's tools, and some dynamite to blast this damn rock! In a year I'll pay off the mortgage, and we'll be set!

  • Jean de Florette: Look at these giant thistles! Look at the house!

  • Jean de Florette: Ugly exteriors often conceal the purest souls.

Extended Reading
  • Xzavier 2022-03-25 09:01:16

    Human nature, finally condensed into the tears in the little girl's eyes! Revenge and desire under the simple and beautiful farm!

  • Sigmund 2022-03-17 09:01:06

    The heavy rain in the other half in the middle of the night, the necklaces studded with fake gemstones that have been pawned, and of course the spring water sealed by cement, these details are disturbing. Longing for nature and pastoral life, dreaming and hardworking, the hard-working and hard-working French people in the city finally disappeared like this. A rare five-star film. Because of this movie, I like Luo Guo, and Luo Guo can be so cute.