Angèle (1934) review

Farm girl Angèle Barbaroux (Orane Demazis) is "romanced" by womanizer Louis (Andrex), runs away from her parents Clarius (Henri Poupon) and Philomène (Annie Toinon) and moves to Marseilles where she has a baby boy and Louis forces her to become a prostitute - later, the family servant Saturnin (Fernandel) tracks her down and convinces her to come back home, but Clarius locks her and her child up in the basement because he's worried about "town gossip."  As a "fallen woman" film it's operating in familiar territory and Pagnol is certainly leisurely in his approach to the material, but I do respect his total fixation on dialogue: as a successful novelist, he sure does like hearing his characters chatter on.  The emphasis on progressive values and "forgiveness" (which was a major component to The Baker's Wife) is refreshing, although the last act is something of a cop-out: Louis vanishes from the movie - when one might expect that he'd return to claim his "property" - and there just so happens to be a young man named Albin (Jean Servais) who loves Angèle no matter what she's been through ... and even willing to be a father to her "illegitimate" kid.