In Section V of the Interpretation
of Dreams, Freud expands on the Oedipal complex suggested
in his letter(s) to Fliess. Freud argues that every person
experiences the emotions of loving the mother and hating the
father; psychoneurotic people are only distinguished from
“human beings who remain normal” because they show these emotions “on a magnified scale”.
Freud points out that the action of Sophocles’ Oedipus
the King consists of the “process of revealing”
the plot, and that this process is like the work of psychoanalysis:
a gradual unfolding process.
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Freud observes that Oedipus the
King is “a tragedy of destiny”. Berri’s Water of the Hills films are also about a
tragedy of destiny, for example, at the end of Manon des Sources,
Delphine explicitly says, “it’s a tragedy”. Freud’s
comments about Oedipus the King in The Interpretation of Dreams
are also valid for Berri’s Water of the Hills films
because both Sophocles’ and Berri’s texts are
about “the supreme will of the gods and the vain attempts
of man to escape the evil that threatens them.” Freud
writes that the lesson the spectator should learn from the
tragedy of Oedipus the King is “submission to the divine
will and realisation of his own impotence”. Here Freud
points out the “impotence” of man against the
power of the gods, or the divine will. In Berri’s films,
the three male characters, Jean, Ugolin, and Cesar, all show
indications of impotence: Jean fails to find the water-source
and instead of discovering running water, he only runs out
of money; Ugolin fails to find a suitable wife in order to
continue the family lineage; Cesar thinks he is impotent because
he thinks he has no children. The weather is crucial in Berri’s
films because the villagers need the correct proportions of
rain and sun to survive.
The weather is a form of “divine
will”, and in Jean de Florette there is a flood, a draught,
and a sirocco, causing the crops to be ruined, and causing
Jean’s rabbits to die. There is a scene where Jean thinks
it is about to rain, but discovers that it rains only on the
other side of the mountain, and so his valley is left dry.
In this scene, Jean shouts at the sky, “Is anybody up
there? I’m a hunchback! Do you think it’s easy?”
The camera angle is nearly vertical on Jean, implying that
God or a “divine will” is looking down on Jean,
controlling the plot. In Berri’s films, the characters
are impotent to change the weather, and are powerless against
the forces of the divine will. Jean dies by being hit by a
falling stone from above. The fact that the stone falls from
above suggests another element of divine will and forces above.
Freud mentions the “compelling force of destiny in the
Oedipus”. This “force of destiny” is present in Berri’s
films as well, and it is underlined by the compelling title
music, which is Verdi’s “Force of Destiny”.
Freud argues that this force of destiny stems from the unconscious.
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