It is a place that brings together the imagination of little Marcel and the reality of the great Pagnol: the Château de la Buzine on the heights of Marseille pays homage to the writer-filmmaker with a major exhibition. Pagnol tells Pagnol is on view until September 18, 2022.
In these natural settings with scents of garrigue, the exhibition retraces the passion of Marcel Pagnol (1895-1974) for cinema. A love story that began when the playwright discovered the first talkies. “He sees that it is a new art and that it is necessary to write for this new art because unlike the theater, it is the point of view of the camera. He will then lead his whole life his fight to impose the 7th art” , explains Nicolas Dromard, curator of the exhibition.
Marcel Pagnol was a total filmmaker. He will even go so far as to join forces with two engineers to develop “Rouxcolor”, a technique that made it possible to make color films with black and white film. But the process will not take because it would have been necessary to modify the cinema projectors to broadcast the images.
Through his twenty-four films, the writer-filmmaker has made the southern accent sing in thethe whole world. A great recognition for the one who dreamed of building a French-style Hollywood on the land of his childhood. Bought in 1941 by Marcel Pagnol, the Château de la Buzine, better known as My mother’s castle, takes on the air of an open-air cinema set. “He made his films, he had his own studios, his laboratories, he managed his own distribution. He mastered all the creative and commercial aspect, it is a unique example in the world with Charlie Chaplin”, explains Nicolas Pagnol, the director’s grandson.
Of The Baker’s Wifer (1938) to Manon of the sources (1952), From The Well Digger’s Daughter (1940) at the Marseille trilogy (1936), Pagnol’s cinematographic work is revealed through 200 objects, cinematographic material, documents and film posters.
“Pagnol tells Pagnol” at Château de la Buzine until September 18, 2022.
Open for visits, Tuesday to Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., and 7 days a week during summer and holidays
Entrance: 3€