Adapted from Jean Giono's novel, a new baker stops making bread
after his pretty wife runs off with a young man; but the town
gets her to come back.
Antonin (Charles Blavette) asks his neighbor to trim the elm trees
that shade his garden. The priest (Robert Vattier) complains that
the teacher (Robert Bassac) said that Joan of Arc only thought
she heard voices. The new baker Aimable Castinier (Raimu) has
a pretty wife, and his fresh bread is popular. The Marquis of
Venelles (Fernand Charpin) says his shepherd Dominique (Charles
Moulin) will pick up bread twice a week. Aurélie Castinier
(Ginette Leclerc) puts the bread in Dominique's sack seductively.
Aimable and Aurélie sleep together and are serenaded by
Dominique in Italian. She goes down to give him something, and
Dominique says how she embraced him and planned to run away with
him. Aurélie leaves at 5 a.m., and Aimable's oven is found
in smoke because she did not wake him. Aimable looks for her and
says she went to her mother.
In church the priest preaches about the woman who ran away. Aimable
learns that Aurélie was kissing Dominique. Aimable orders
a bottle and gets drunk, saying he won't bake except for her.
The Marquis and the priest hear of it. Aimable rambles on and
collapses. He staggers home and tries to hang himself; but men
cut him down. The Marquis tells Aimable that Maillefer (Edouard
Delmont) saw his wife, but Maillefer describes how he caught a
fish. Aimable makes him say where they are, and Maillefer says
that Aurélie was singing naked with Dominique.
Aimable asks the priest to bring her back. Maillefer says the
swamp is dangerous. So the Marquis tells the teacher to carry
the priest over the swamp, and he does so. Dominique lies next
to Aurélie and hears them. He quarrels with Aurélie
and swims away. The priest quotes how Jesus forgave the woman
caught in adultery. The teacher tells Aimable and the Marquis
that Aurélie will return in the dark. The Marquis assures
Aimable that he will send Dominique to Provence. Angele watches
to see Aurélie but runs from the teacher. The priest brings
Aurélie home. She asks Aimable to forgive her, and he welcomes
her. Aimable gives her his dinner and confesses that he drank
and stopped baking except one for her. Aimable calls his returning
cat a slut and asks what difference being handsome makes. Aurélie
cries and says she won't go away again. Aimable lets her light
the fire in his oven.
In this charming comedy directed by Marcel Pagnol the quality
of the baker's bread is compared to the beauty of his wife. Water
is plentiful, but people must pray for bread and don't want to
do without it. Thus the mayor, priest, and teacher make sure the
wife returns to the one who bakes it.