“And the mountain will flower”, the historic saga of France 2, ends this evening with two new episodes. Adapted from the novel Le Mas des Tilleuls, what are the differences between the series and the work of Françoise Bourdon?
Warning, this article contains many spoilers on the series And the mountain will flower and the novel Le Mas des Tilleuls by Françoise Bourdon from which it is adapted. If you don’t want to know anything, don’t read on!
On August 29, France 2 launched And the mountain will blooma historical romantic saga set against a backdrop of family and political drama set in the 19th century.
Adapted from the novel The Mas des Tilleuls of Francoise Bourdon published in 2011, the series retraces the career of Jean-Baptiste (Guillaume Arnault). After being banished from the mas of his childhood by his father Sosthène (Philip Torreton), the latter became a peddler and druggist and traveled all over France to sell plants picked on the Montagne de Lure. In a Provence in the throes of revolt, however, Jean-Baptiste could only find peace if he reconquered the estate where he was born.
As we know, adapting a literary work for the screen is often perilous and almost always requires changes. But what are the differences between the series and Françoise Bourdon’s novel?
TEMPORALITY
First difference between And the mountain will bloom and The Mas des Tilleuls : temporality. Indeed, unlike Françoise Bourdon’s novel which spans a period of 47 years, the series only covers a small part of Jean-Baptiste’s life. Therefore, many elements have been changed or even modified to stick to the rhythm of a series.
THE DEATH OF ADELAIDE LOMBARD
The death of Adelaide Lombard (Anne Brochet) is different in the two works. In Et la montagne fleurira, Jean-Baptiste’s mother dies after falling from a ladder when the latter is still only a teenager. In The Mas des Tilleuls, it is a bad fever that takes Adelaide only two years after the birth of Jean-Baptiste. The latter therefore did not really know his mother.
THE MARRIAGE OF SOSTHENE AND SERAPHINE
In the series, Sosthène visibly cheats on his wife for several years with Séraphine (Helen of Fougerolles), a girl of joy. It will not take him very long to make Séraphine his new wife after the death of Adelaide. In the work of Françoise Bourdon, things are slightly different. Séraphine is also a prostitute, but Jean-Baptiste’s father will, on the other hand, wait ten years before marrying her.
JEAN-BAPTISTE’S BROTHER
In the series, everything suggests that Gaspard (Rio Vega) is the illegitimate son of Séraphine and Sosthène. The latter will eventually recognize him after having narrowly escaped death. On this point, nothing to do with the novel, starting with his first name. In the original work, Gaspard is indeed called Elie and was conceived during the marriage of Séraphine and Sosthène. Also, while John the Baptist and his brother seem to be about the same age in And the Mountain Will Bloom, that’s not the case at all in the book where they’re about fifteen years apart.
THE LOVES OF JEAN-BAPTISTE
In the series as in the book, Jean-Baptiste is a popular boy with the female population. Depicted as chaste in the fiction of France 2, he nevertheless experienced the pleasures of the flesh long before his meeting with Lila (Claire Duburcq) in the literary work of Françoise Bourdon.
THE MEETING OF LILA AND JEAN-BAPTISTE
In the novel and its adaptation, Jean-Baptiste and Lila meet under a lime tree, a symbol of love and fidelity. In both media, love at first sight is immediate but they will wait a few days to exchange their first kiss in the series. In Françoise Bourdon’s novel, Jean-Baptiste and Lila kiss from their first meeting. Regarding their quick marriage after meeting and the birth of their son Zacharie, nothing changes, however.
THE DEATH OF LILA
In The Mas des Tilleuls, Lila is a much less important character than in the series. Moreover, she dies of cholera in excruciating pain from the middle of the story with Jean-Baptiste by her side during her long agony. The fate of the character is quite different in And the mountain will flower where she loses her life hit by a bullet in the heart.
THE REUNION BETWEEN JEAN-BAPTISTE AND SOSTHENE
In the series, Sosthène goes to a makeshift hospital after learning that his son is suffering from cholera. Particularly affected to see him in this state, Sosthène is filled with remorse for him. Unfortunately, he will then die of the same disease on the way to the mas des tilleuls, thinking that his son is dead.
In the novel, the reunion between father and son is far from warm. On learning that Jean-Baptiste had been arrested for having taken part in the revolt of the Montagnards, Sosthène visited him in prison where he rejoiced at the pitiful state in which he found himself. The perfect opportunity to also announce to him that he bequeaths the mas des tilleurs to Elie. Just like in the series, Sosthène will die on returning from his trip but from a cold snap, imagining that his son will end his life behind bars.
THE WEDDING OF JEAN-BAPTISTE AND AGATHE-MARIE
At the end of And the Mountain will flower, we imagine Jean-Baptiste and Agathe-Marie (Chloe Astor) end up together. In the novel, Jean-Baptiste will marry Agathe-Marie six years after Lila’s death. Unfortunately, this union is not placed under the sign of love. In any case not from the point of view of Jean-Baptiste who is struggling to recover from the death of Lila with whom he is still madly in love.
For her part, Agathe-Marie has been raising little Zacharie practically since the death of her friend and is very much in love with the young man. So much so that it is she who will ask him in marriage. Although he is not in love with her, Jean-Baptiste will nevertheless agree to marry her, seeing this marriage as a bargain. From this union will be born Raphaël and Victor but it will still take a good ten years for Jean-Baptiste to feel tenderness towards his wife.
THE DEATH OF SERAPHINE
In the France 2 fiction, Séraphine dies having a miscarriage a few years after her marriage to Sosthène, which is not the case in Françoise Bourdon’s work. Indeed, Séraphine lived a long life there at the mas des tilleuls, dying old after having sunk into senile dementia. When he loses his mother, Elie is then 45 years old.
WHAT YOU WILL NOT SEE
Due to the temporality chosen for the purposes of the fiction, certain elements of Françoise Bourdon’s work have been deleted. This is particularly the case of the fate of Alexandrine (Pauline Briand), Gaspard’s wife, who is left hanging after she fled her abusive husband. In the book, his place is more important. Once she has fled her marriage, she settles in Marseilles and meets Zacharie, the son of Jean-Baptiste and Lila, with whom she falls madly in love. From their beautiful story, a little girl named Vermeille will be born later.
The political aspect has an important part both in the book and in the series. However, if Lila accompanies Jean-Baptiste in the revolt which opposes the Montagnards to Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, in the work of Françoise Bourdin, this is not the case. Indeed, it is Alexandrine who joins the rebellion alongside Zacharie who is just as committed to politics as his father.
THE TILLEULS MAS
Whether in The Mas des Tilleuls or in And the mountain will flower, Jean-Baptiste will find peace only when he has recovered his rights to the estate where he was born. While in the fiction of France 2, he is young when he sets foot in this place he loves so much, he will have to wait until he is 64 years old in the novel.