The Children of the Marshland

The Children of the Marshland

1999 · 115 min · ★ 7.1 · Comedy, Drama

The film is set in Marais, a quiet region along the banks of Loire river in 1918. Riton is afflicted with a bad-tempered wife and three unruly children. Garris lives alone with his recollections of World War I trenches. Their daily life consists of seasonal work and visits from their two pals: Tane, the local train conductor and Amédée, a dreamer and voracious reader of classics.

Directed by Jean Becker · Written by Sébastien Japrisot

Your Rating

Where to Watch

Streaming

Cast

Jacques Villeret Henri Pignol, aka Riton
Jacques Gamblin Garriss
André Dussollier Amédée
Michel Serrault Hyacinthe Richard, aka 'Pépé la Rainette'
Isabelle Carré Marie
Éric Cantona Joseph "Jo" Sardi
Suzanne Flon Cri-Cri Pignol, aged
Jacques Dufilho Old man
Gisèle Casadesus Mrs. Mercier
Roland Magdane Félix
Élisabeth Commelin Marthe
Julie Marboeuf Emilie

Make it a double feature

3h 30m together

The Children of the Marshland

Strange Gardens

Both from Jean Becker.

More from Jean BeckerSee all →

Le Trou

Le Trou · 1960

MovieDramaThriller

Four prison inmates have been hatching a plan to literally dig out of jail when another prisoner, Claude Gaspard, is moved into their cell. They take a risk and share their plan with the newcomer. Over the course of three days, the prisoners and friends break through the concrete floor using a bed post and begin to make their way through the sewer system – yet their escape is anything but assured.

Strange Gardens

Strange Gardens · 2003

Strange Gardens

MovieComedyDrama

Lucien, 14, can’t understand why his father, a serious and respected teacher, makes a fool of himself by dressing up as a clown and giving a show. André, Lucien’s father’s best friend, feels for the teenager and decides to reveal something from their mutual past that will explain the reason for Lucien’s father’s strange behavior.

Touchez Pas au Grisbi

Touchez Pas au Grisbi · 1954

Touchez Pas au Grisbi

MovieCrimeThriller

Gentleman gangster Max and his partner, Riton, pull off their last, most successful heist and find themselves comfortable enough to retire in the style they enjoy. However, Max confides the details of the theft to his younger mistress, Josey -- who has secretly taken up with ambitious young rival gangster Angelo. Angelo then has Riton kidnapped and demands the stash of gold as ransom, which threatens Max's dreams of the perfect retirement.

Love Me No More

Love Me No More · 2008

Love Me No More

Antoine Méliot is around 40 years old and has everything he needs to be happy: a beautiful wife, two adorable children, friends he can count on, a pretty house in the Yvelines and money. But one day he decides to ruin everything in one weekend.

Lest We Forget

Lest We Forget · 1991

MovieDocumentaryDrama

A compilation of 30 French filmmakers, Alain Resnais and Jean Luc Godard among them, who use film to make a plea on behalf of a political prisoner. Jean Luc Godard and Anne Marie Mieville's film concerns the plight of Thomas Wanggai, West Papuan activist who has since died in prison. The short films were commissioned by Amnesty International.

Emmenez-moi au Ritz

Emmenez-moi au Ritz · 1977

Emmenez-moi au Ritz

The three ex-wives of a real estate developer join forces to get revenge on him.

Les Saintes Chéries

Les Saintes Chéries · 1965

Les Saintes Chéries

SeriesComedyFamily

My Afternoons with Margueritte

My Afternoons with Margueritte · 2010

My Afternoons with Margueritte

MovieDramaComedy

An illiterate and lonely man bonds with an older and well-read woman.

One Deadly Summer

One Deadly Summer · 1983

One Deadly Summer

MovieMysteryDrama

Shortly after Elle Wieck moves to a small French village, she begins dating Pin-Pon, a quiet young mechanic who has grown obsessed with the beautiful newcomer. But Elle has her own reason for the relationship...

The Lovers of Montparnasse

The Lovers of Montparnasse · 1958

The Lovers of Montparnasse

MovieRomanceDrama

Biographic film chronicling the last year of the life of the Italian painter Amedeo Modigliani, 1919, who falls in love with a girl from a wealthy family. Her parents are against this relationship and stop financial help. Modigliani worked and died in abject poverty in the Montparnasse Quarter of Paris, France.

A Crime in Paradise

A Crime in Paradise · 2001

A Crime in Paradise

In the 1980 French countryside, farmer Jojo and his ill-tempered wife Lulu hate each other, though their respective interests speak against divorce. The only thing that keeps the oppressed Jojo from murder is the threat of the guillotine...

Conversations with My Gardener

Conversations with My Gardener · 2007

Conversations with My Gardener

MovieComedyDrama

A successful artist, weary of Parisian life and on the verge of divorce, returns to the country to live in his childhood house. He needs someone to make a real vegetable garden again out of the wilderness it has become. The gardener happens to be a former schoolfriend. A warm, fruitful conversation starts between the two men.

Élisa

Marie has had a tough childhood ever since her mother Elisa committed suicide. She has spent most of her life in an orphanage and now makes a living as a small time criminal in Paris. Now she wants to unravel her past and find her father whom she blames for her mother's death.

Backfire

Backfire · 1964

MovieCrimeAdventure

A greedy gold smuggler hires a handsome hero to transport a stolen fortune to a new hideout accompanied by the smuggler's sexy girlfriend.

A Man Named Rocca

A Man Named Rocca · 1961

A Man Named Rocca

MovieDramaCrime

Roberto goes to Marseilles to give a hand to his friend Xavier, wrongly imprisoned following a frame-up organized by his associate Villanova. Roberto sets out to seduce Villanova's mistress, but when Villanova is killed, Roberto ends up leader of the band...

Welcome Aboard

Welcome Aboard · 2012

Despite his fame, Taillandier has suddenly stopped painting. Deeply depressed, the sixty-year-old decides to go away. He has no clear goal and explains nothing to his close friends. During his travels, he has a strange encounter with Marylou, a wild teenager who was rejected by her mother. The lost girl and the man at the end of his tether will travel together awhile. Finally living like a father and daughter, at peace.

More Like This

Lord of the Flies

Lord of the Flies · 1990

Lord of the Flies

MovieAdventureDrama

When their plane crashes, 25 schoolboys find themselves trapped on a tropical island, miles from civilization.

Eye of the Needle

Eye of the Needle · 1981

Eye of the Needle

MovieDramaThriller

Great Britain, 1944, during World War II. Relentlessly pursued by several MI5 agents, Henry Faber the Needle, a ruthless German spy in possession of vital information about D-Day, takes refuge on Storm Island, an inhospitable, sparsely inhabited island off the coast of northern Scotland.

Muppet Treasure Island

Muppet Treasure Island · 1996

Muppet Treasure Island

MovieRomanceAdventure

Young Jim Hawkins and his two best friends embark on a voyage across the high seas in search of buried treasure, but soon find that not everyone onboard can be trusted.

The Fox and the Hound

The Fox and the Hound · 1981

The Fox and the Hound

MovieAdventureAnimation

When a feisty little fox named Tod is adopted into a farm family, he quickly becomes friends with a fun and adorable hound puppy named Copper. Life is full of hilarious adventures until Copper is expected to take on his role as a hunting dog -- and the object of his search is his best friend!

Oliver Twist

Oliver Twist · 1948

MovieDramaAdventure

When 9-year-old orphan Oliver Twist dares to ask his cruel taskmaster, Mr. Bumble, for a second serving of gruel, he's hired out as an apprentice. Escaping that dismal fate, young Oliver falls in with the street urchin known as the Artful Dodger and his criminal mentor, Fagin. When kindly Mr. Brownlow takes Oliver in, Fagin's evil henchman Bill Sikes plots to kidnap the boy.

A Night to Remember

A Night to Remember · 1958

A Night to Remember

MovieDramaAction

The sinking of the Titanic is presented in a highly realistic fashion in this tense British drama. The disaster is portrayed largely from the perspective of the ocean liner's second officer, Charles Lightoller. Despite numerous warnings about ice, the ship sails on, with Capt. Edward John Smith keeping it going at a steady clip. When the doomed vessel finally hits an iceberg, the crew and passengers discover that they lack enough lifeboats, and tragedy follows.

Pinocchio

Pinocchio · 2002

MovieComedyFamily

Roberto Benigni adapts the classic children's tale by Carlo Collodi for the big-budget family-oriented comedy Pinocchio.

Zorba the Greek

Zorba the Greek · 1964

Zorba the Greek

An uptight English writer traveling to Crete on a matter of business finds his life changed forever when he meets the gregarious Alexis Zorba.

The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain

The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain · 1995

The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain

MovieDramaComedy

When an English cartographer arrives in Wales to tell the residents of the Welsh village of Ffynnon Garw that their 'mountain' is only a hill, the offended community sets out to remedy the situation.

Beautiful Boy

Beautiful Boy · 2018

After he and his first wife separate, journalist David Sheff struggles to help their teenage son, who goes from experimenting with drugs to becoming devastatingly addicted to methamphetamine.

Faust

MovieFantasyDrama

God and Satan wager on the soul of a learned and prayerful alchemist as part of their eternal war over Earth.

Escape from Alcatraz

Escape from Alcatraz · 1979

Escape from Alcatraz

MovieDramaThriller

San Francisco Bay, January 18, 1960. Frank Lee Morris is transferred to Alcatraz, a maximum security prison located on a rocky island. Although no one has ever managed to escape from there, Frank and other inmates begin to carefully prepare an escape plan.

The Guns of Navarone

The Guns of Navarone · 1961

The Guns of Navarone

MovieAdventureDrama

A team of allied saboteurs are assigned an impossible mission: infiltrate an impregnable Nazi-held island and destroy the two enormous long-range field guns that prevent the rescue of 2,000 trapped British soldiers.

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter