Yves Robert’s adaptation of the first volume of Marcel Pagnol’s autobiography may be relatively academic and unexceptional as filmmaking, but the material itselfgrowing up in Provence at the turn of the centuryis so wonderful that the film is full of satisfying and unexpected pleasures. Although the nostalgic texture often verges on sentimentality, the wit and intelligence of Pagnolif not the loose directorial style that he employed in his own moviestriumphantly shine through. With Philippe Caubere, Nathalie Roussel, Didier Pain, Therese Liotard, and Julien Ciamaca (1990). (JR)