Yves Montand was raised in the area where the story takes place and had been a friend of Marcel Pagnol. Nevertheless he rejected the role when it was first offered. Montand was ultimately persuaded to take his role by wife Simone Signoret, who died during production.
The story was originally told in a 1952 film of the same title, written and directed by Marcel Pagnol. Pagnol's initial cut ran over four hours, and was drastically shortened by the studio. Disappointed by this, Pagnol adapted his screenplay into a pair of novels. Years later Claude Berri happened upon a copy of the book that had been left behind in a hotel room. He loved the story, and decided to adapt it into a pair of films.
During the procession, the crowd prays for rain by singing, in Provençal, a song dedicated to Saint Gens, a popular local saint who is invoked to obtain rain.
The shooting of this big production will prove to be very trying for Emmanuelle Béart. The famous sequence where Manon bathes naked is not easy to shoot. Modest, the actress refuses to undress in front of a hundred technicians. "Even if I am not a barrel, I have difficulties to play this scene", she admits to the director. To unblock the situation, Claude Berri undresses completely and dives into the river, naked as a worm, to show the example. Stunned, Béart imitates him.
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