MARIUS

The action takes place at Vieux-Port de Marseille and more specifically in César's Bar de la Marine , where his son, Marius, works.¹.

As a young adult, Marius runs the bar, but he has only one dream: to board one of the boats that cross the harbor and set sail for faraway lands. Fanny, who sells seashells in front of the bar with her mother, has been discreetly in love with Marius since childhood. And Marius, without admitting it, has always loved Fanny, but keeps his distance from her. To get Marius to declare his love for her, Fanny stirs up his jealousy by allowing herself to be courted by the fifty-year-old Panisse, a wealthy master sailmaker and old friend of César.

Despite the thirty years that separate them, Panisse asks her to marry him. This announcement provokes a heated argument between Marius and Panisse. Fanny spurns Panisse and declares her love for Marius. Marius admits he loves her just as much, but his desire to set sail for the open sea is still nagging at the back of his mind. Solicited for immediate employment on an exploration ship, he sees the position slip from his grasp and gives free rein to his love and desire for Fanny.

A month later, in the early hours of the morning, when Honorine, Fanny's mother, returns early from a visit to her sister, she discovers the two lovers asleep in Fanny's room. She rushes to César's house, and the two of them decide to get married as soon as possible. But at the same time, Marius is offered a new opportunity to leave.

Fanny, realizing that Marius will never be happy until he gives in to his sea craze, chooses to sacrifice herself for him, claiming that she prefers a settled life with Panisse after all. Marius, blinded but relieved, exclaims "You marry Panisse's money and I'll marry the sea"; he immediately rushes to the departing ship, christened la Malaisie. Fanny, distraught and torn, holds back her tears to hide her son's imminent departure from César, but when she hears a voice shouting "He's leaving, he's leaving...", she faints with emotion in César's arms. César immediately calls Marius for help, "Marius! Where is he, for God's sake?"; in the wide, bird's-eye shot of the Malaysian leaving the harbor, César calls one last time, "Marius!