Film review: The Time of Secrets, Marcel Pagnol’s Provence memoir
Christophe Barratier’s sunlit adaptation of Marcel Pagnol’s childhood memoir is now streaming
The Time of Secrets (2022)
Dir: Christophe Barratier
Starring: Léo Campion, Guillaume de Tonquédec, Mélanie Doutey; 98 mins
What could be more soothing, as we say farewell to summer, than a sumptuously sun-dappled cinematic adaptation of Marcel Pagnol’s Provençal childhood memoirs? Especially when the subject is la rentrée (back-to-school season)?
Adapted from the third volume of the Aubagne-born author’s Souvenirs d’enfance, published in 1960, the story is set in July 1905, when 10-year-old Marcel has just finished primary school and is about to begin lycée in bustling Marseille.
One final long summer with his family and friends in the garrigue hinterland – so beloved of Pagnol – awaits, marking the boy’s evolution from child to teenager.
He revels in reconnecting with nature and the great outdoors of Provence but,
in true coming-of-age fashion, Marcel meets and falls under the spell of a girl, Isabelle, who is on holiday at the Château des Bellons. She is by turns mysterious and sly, perfectly representing the transition from innocence to a grown-up world of secrets.
The other volumes in the Pagnol memoirs, which are highly recommended, are La Gloire de mon père (My Father’s Glory), Le Château de ma mère (My Mother’s Castle) and Le Temps des amours (The Time of Love).
The Time of Secrets is now available to stream on Apple TV.
Also out: Furies
A young woman becomes entangled in the Parisian criminal underworld in a high-octane drama. Watch on Netflix.
