Fanny (film)

Fanny (film)

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Fanny (film)

Fanny is a 1961 film drama about a young woman and the man she loves. He is torn between leaving his boring life for adventures at sea or staying behind with the girl. The movie was adapted by Julius J. Epstein from the 1954 Broadway musical Fanny by S. N. Behrman, Joshua Logan, and Harold Rome, which in turn had been adapted from the plays Fanny, Marius and César by Marcel Pagnol. It was directed by Logan.

Starring Leslie Caron, Horst Buchholz, Maurice Chevalier, and Charles Boyer, it received multiple Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor in a Leading Role.

Plot
Cast
Score
Academy Award nominations
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Plot

In Marseilles in the early 1920s, Cesar (Charles Boyer) owns a bar. His 19-year-old son Marius (Horst Buchholz) works for him, but wants more than anything to go to sea and leave his boring existence behind. The only thing holding him back is Fanny (Leslie Caron) an 18-year-old girl he has grown up with. Fanny is in love with Marius and flirts with him, but Marius always rejects her.

One day, Fanny asks if he wants to take her to a dance on Sunday night, but Marius tells her he is planning to leave the next day, having secretly signed on as a sailor on a five-year scientific expedition traveling around the world. This is encouraged by Marius's crazy friend "the Admiral" (Raymond Bussières). Fanny is offended and leaves.

Then, Panisse (Maurice Chevalier), an elderly but wealthy merchant, asks to meet with Fanny's mother Honorine's (Georgette Anys). Honorine thinks Panisse wants to propose to her, when he actually wants to marry Fanny, even though he knows that Fanny loves someone else. Although disappointed, Honorine does not object, seeing as Panisse is worth 600,000 francs.

After Marius closes the bar that night, Fanny asks to talk to him privately, so he sneaks out. Fanny tells him that Panisse wants to marry her, but she turned him down because she loves Marius. She is willing to wait for him, but he tells her the trip is for five years and to forget about him. Fanny says she has always loved him and will never forget him. Marius then professes his love for her. They then go into Fanny's house, empty with her mother away.

The next morning, Honorine comes home to find Fanny and Marius sleeping together. She and Cesar begin planning the marriage of their offspring. However, Fanny urges Marius to go because she doesn't want to hold him down, as he would eventually grow to hate her for depriving him of his great opportunity. They quarrel, but finally Marius does leave.

Afterwards, Fanny discovers she is pregnant with Marius's baby. Fanny goes to Panisse and tells him the news. He is happy to marry her anyway, overjoyed with the possibility of a male heir to carry on his name. They marry and Fanny gives birth to a boy, whom they name Cesar "Cesario" Marius Panisse.

On Cesario's first birthday, Panisse goes away on business. While he is gone, Marius returns on a short leave. He visits Fanny and becomes angry when he learns her child is his. Cesar comes in and tells Marius that the father is "the one who loves". Panisse comes home and says that if he wants, Marius can have Fanny but not the child, but Fanny won't leave without the boy. Marius leaves with neither.

Ten years later, Cesario is looking forward to his birthday party. The Admiral takes the boy sailing without telling anyone and reunites him with his father, now working in a garage. Once Marius sees his son, he is overjoyed. When Panisse is told his son is missing, he is so stricken, he has to taken to his room. Fanny goes to look for Cesario and finds him. She says that Panisse is dying, so Marius drives them back.

Back home, Fanny explains to Marius she never told him about the baby because when she let him go, she thought he would stop at the gangplank and come back to her, but he didn't. So Fanny took her revenge. Just then, Cesario says Panisse wants to see Fanny and Cesar. The dying man dictates a letter to Marius, asking the young man to marry his wife once he is dead, requesting only that the boy keep his last name.