Pagnol did with "The Baker's Wife" what he has done with almost all his other works: he gets you thinking that this is a very simple, straightforward story, but as you get further and further into it, you discover layers upon layers of stories about human nature that you did not expect. By the end, your heart is full of compassion and affection for your fellow humans.
A middle-aged baker named Aimable and his much younger wife Aurélie settle in a small village of the Provence hills. This village is full of well-meaning but stubborn peasants who all hold generation-old grudges against each other; it is also the home of a young priest, and a 50-something hedonistic Marquis. Just a few days after the new baker is settled in, his wife runs away with a young and handsome shepperd at the Marquis' employ. Shocked and depressed, Aimable declares that he won't make any more bread if his wife doesn't come back, causing the entire village to bury the hatchet and work together to find his wife and return her to her husband so that they may get fresh bread again.
The cuckold is a classic theme in Mediterranean literature, and it is always a tragicomedy when the story revolves around such a character. "The Baker's Wife" is no different: Aimable's situation is in turns very funny and completely heartbreaking. This big, scruffy, older man knows good and well his wife is too young and too pretty for him, but he loves her with a tenderness and care that her young lover soon shows to be incapable of. Aurélie is young and her prematurely settled life bores her: she understandably craves excitement and adventures, and she knows her husband can't be counted on for that. She finds out that the exhilarating whirlwind romance she throws herself into is not all she imagined it would be...
In parallel to the marital debacle of the main story line, the young inexperienced priest's sudden understanding of human weakness and the real reason forgiveness is so important is my favorite part of this play. For this young man, freshly minted from the seminary with no experience of life outside of a church's wall, everything is black and white at the beginning of the story. Sin is bad and that's that. He doesn't understand why people transgress the rules, and dealing with the drunk baker sobbing about his wife gives him a much more nuanced view of suffering and loss.
The final scene, where the baker speaks to his cat and tells her how worried her mate was and how he searched for her everywhere is the most moving speech about forgiveness that I have ever read.
This simple-sounding little comedy is a funny and touching reflection on forgiveness, regrets, love and compassion. If you have enjoyed Pagnol's other works, you should definitely check this one out too.