Fanny

Fanny (2013) is a French drama you can watch online on iFILM. It's the middle chapter of Marcel Pagnol's Marseille trilogy, brought back to the screen by Daniel Auteuil, who directs and takes a central role. Young Fanny has been left behind: her sweetheart Marius has sailed away, and she is carrying his child.

In the close world of the old Marseille harbor, there is no hiding a pregnancy and no future for an unwed mother. So Panisse — an older, well-off, kindly merchant — offers Fanny his hand and promises to raise the boy as his own and give him a name. She accepts for the child's sake, never guessing that Marius is about to come home and realize what he threw away. Victoire Bélézy, Jean-Pierre Darroussin and Raphaël Personnaz round out the cast.

Auteuil films it with old-fashioned tenderness: sunlight on the harbor, unhurried talk, feelings the characters can't quite say aloud. One for viewers who love a calm, literary melodrama steeped in pre-war Provence. Stream Fanny (2013) online on iFILM.