Portrait photographique

In this historic inscription, Pagnol recalls the three characters Fernandel had just played under his direction: Saturnin in Angèle (1934), Gédémus in Regain (1937), and above all the title role in Le Schpountz (1938), the film that made him a genuine star. “It is to Pagnol,” Fernandel would later say, “that I owe having been able to prove that I was a real actor.” The inscription allows the portrait to be dated to the turn of 1937–1938, at the height of their fruitful collaboration.

Their partnership was to leave a lasting mark on French cinema: La Fille du puisatier (1940), Naïs (1945), and then Topaze (1951) confirmed this alliance between the playwright turned filmmaker and the popular actor who, according to Pagnol, “possessed the gift of making people laugh who had so many reasons to weep.” Their friendship was nevertheless followed by a resounding falling-out after Fernandel refused to play Ugolin in Manon des sources: Pagnol called him a “grimacer,” and it was not until the end of their lives that the quarrel was finally resolved.

A precious portrait, which remained Fernandel’s property throughout his life. It is the only inscribed portrait of Pagnol that he owned, a witness to the golden age of the two men’s collaboration.