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A Magnificent Life

Play trailer Poster for A Magnificent Life 2025 1h 30m Animation Biography Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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In 1955, Marcel Pagnol was over sixty and had just ended a prolific film career to return to his childhood love, the theatre. But his last two plays had suffered two resounding failures in quick succession. He is beginning to doubt the public's interest in his work, and thinks it might be time to make way for the younger generation. During a friendly dinner, the editor-in-chief of ELLE magazine commissioned him to write a weekly literary serial about his childhood, his Provence, his first loves. A few days later, when the ELLE messenger came to ask him for the famous pages at the beginning of his story, Monsieur Pagnol rushed to write them. He realized that his childhood memories were escaping him.

Critics Reviews

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Frank Scheck The Hollywood Reporter f its storytelling proves more rudimentary, hewing closely to the stylistic formula endemic to the genre, the ample visual pleasures prove their own reward. May 20, 2025 Full Review Ritesh Mehta IndieWire Chomet, a master storyteller in his own right... sadly and strangely seems to have sidestepped the catharsis a well-wrought narrative can supply, favoring instead a dutifully animated, bullet-pointed Wikipedia-entry style telling of Pagnol’s life. Rated: C+ May 20, 2025 Full Review Philip De Semlyen Time Out No one who’s fallen for the timeless and charmingly antic worlds of Sylvain Chomet will be disappointed by this poignant eulogy to one of France’s great, if now decidedly uncool 20th century artists. Rated: 4/5 May 19, 2025 Full Review Read all reviews

Cast & Crew

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Sylvain Chomet

Director

Laurent Lafitte

Marcel Pagnol

Géraldine Pailhas

Augustine Pagnol

Sylvain Chomet

Screenwriter

Ashargin Poiré

Producer

Lilian Eche

Producer
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A Magnificent Life

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Movie Info

Synopsis In 1955, Marcel Pagnol was over sixty and had just ended a prolific film career to return to his childhood love, the theatre. But his last two plays had suffered two resounding failures in quick succession. He is beginning to doubt the public's interest in his work, and thinks it might be time to make way for the younger generation. During a friendly dinner, the editor-in-chief of ELLE magazine commissioned him to write a weekly literary serial about his childhood, his Provence, his first loves. A few days later, when the ELLE messenger came to ask him for the famous pages at the beginning of his story, Monsieur Pagnol rushed to write them. He realized that his childhood memories were escaping him.
Director
Sylvain Chomet
Producer
Ashargin Poiré, Lilian Eche, Valérie Puech, Aton Soumache
Screenwriter
Sylvain Chomet
Production Co
What The Prod, Picture Box, Bidibul Productions
Genre
Animation, Biography, Drama
Original Language
French
Runtime
1h 30m