César 1936

Honoré Panisse [Fernand Charpin] is dying, cheerfully, with friends, his wife, and his son by his side. He confesses to the priest in front of those present and presses for the doctor to speak frankly about his prognosis. Yet he cannot bring himself to tell Césariot Panisse [André Fouché], his twenty-year-old son, that the young man’s biological father is Marius Ollivier [Pierre Fresnay], the absent son of César Ollivier [Raimu], Panisse’s old friend and Césariot’s godfather. After Panisse’s funeral, Fanny Cabanis [Orane Demazis], Panisse’s widow and Césariot’s mother, yields to the priest’s pressure and reveals the truth: she had a relationship with Marius before she married Panisse.

A gobsmacked Césariot tells Fanny that he is going to visit a friend from school, but really goes to see Marius, who is now a car mechanic in Toulon. Posing as a journalist, Césariot spends some time with Marius, but he returns home after some of Marius’ friends—to play a joke on the naive youth—tell him that they and Marius are involved in burglary and drug trafficking. A chance encounter in Marseille later alerts Marius’ business partner to the relationship between Marius and Césariot, and he comes clean to Césariot about the joke.

Césariot finds Marius and reveals his true identity. He brings Marius to see Fanny and César, and Marius chastises them for ruining all of their lives in the name of propriety and believing negative rumors that they had heard about Marius over the years. Marius then tells Césariot that Césariot knows where to find him and leaves.

A short time later, just after Césariot has left Marseille to start a job elsewhere, Marius and Fanny meet privately. They both admit their continuing love for each other, but Marius says he feels uncomfortable around Fanny now, since she is a different person after spending so long living so comfortably. He says he needs time to think and leaves, but his car does not start, as César has followed the couple to their meeting and tinkered with the engine of Marius’ car. César says Marius is being silly and tells Marius and Fanny that they do not have to worry about what Césariot will think, who has apparently told César that, after considering the alternatives, he would prefer his parents to get together. Having delivered his message, César leaves the (now not-so-young) lovers to restart their conversation, and Marius and Fanny walk off together, arm in arm.