All language subtitles for The.Tree.The.Mayor.And.The.Mediatheque.1993.1080p.BluRay.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

THE TREE, THE MAYOR, AND
THE MEDIATHEQUE

OR THE SEVEN CHANCES

Subordinate conditional proposals.

Do you all know how
to express the condition?

- With the conditional. - That has
nothing to do with it.

Language is illogical.

Let's look at a very simple example.

You want to ride a bike
but there is a condition,

for example, to do good,
you follow?

If to do good was the condition,
what would you say?

""I'll go for a stroll..."", complete
that

with the condition to do good.

Very well!

This is a conjunctive locution.

But that's something complicated.

We're accustomed to using
a simple conjunction,

of only two letters, which ones?

We're going for a stroll...

- If it does good. - Very good!

Bravo!

If it does good.

Those are the subordinate
conditional proposals...

and you begin them with...

- If! - Very good!

Chapter One

If before the regional elections of '92,

the presidential majority has not
become the minority...

Paris for All in France With Solidarity

Because the great importance
that the action has...

that, of subterranean form
and also visible,

produced by your newspaper,

one must know to decipher it,
to understand it, and to interpet it...

according to the sense that perhaps,
or perhaps not, it motivates action.

The events will determine it.

We will see what the president does,
what the party does...

and then will come
the imponderabIes.

They aren't there.

The imponderables are part of
the special services.

- France is of the right.
- And all the better!

The president is, even, of the
far right.

That's your opinion.

- It's not yours? - Of course not.

Let's be serious.

We are serious and
our meeting is too,

because who knows if it won't
have been predetermined?

I usually read your letters.

- Good afternoon. - Hello, mayor.

- How are you? - Very well.

Thanks.

Chapter Two

If Julien, after his defeat, was not
enamored...

with the novelist Bérénice
Beaurivage...

You're wasting time here.

It's true.

Even though you want to be
a regional representative,

it is not only here
where you should act.

- What's important is Paris.
- Very much so, to my sorrow.

But it's vital to situate myself
on a national scale.

and before I can, I must situate myself on a local scale, as I've done.

But not so much here...

where you isolate yourself from all
the intrigues of Paris.

I detest the intrigues! I prefer to
convince my electors...

before those of the party.

- And if the party no longer wants
you? - Here I'll have support.

- I've learned to obtain allies.
- The ecologists?

- Don't flatter yourself!
- They're good people.

Ah, yes, the whole world wants them.

Sooner or later I'll get
elected.

I prefer to fight doing what I like,

living where and with whom I like,

to doing boring things with people
I don't like.

If the bigwigs hear you!

I refer to politicians in general,
friends or rivals.

I want to be a different politician.

The people are fed up with bigwigs
and slick talkers.

Why are you laughing?

I was thinking... have you never
grown a beard?

No, why would you ask that?

It just occurred to me.

The beard is clear proof:

if you're a swine, you seem one
all the more,

and if you're an idealist, it makes
you seem like Christ.

- Then, in my case?
- Good...

Look!

They're extraordinary!

Don't run.

- Should I imitate the turkeys?
- Yes.

Incredible!

Now I'll do it.

- These white flowers!
- They're clematides.

Clematis armandi, the unique
perennial clematide.

Apple trees!

They're pear trees, darling.

- And they don't have pears?
- Not until July.

- Not a single tree has fruit?
- No, think a little!

They haven't flowered at all.

- In the market there are always
pears. - They're from a greenhouse.

Lettuce!

They're planted!

I always see them with cellophane.

I'll plant them by every wall.

What's that?

- Lily of the Virgin.
- Precious!

I'll put some in my hair
for when I leave.

- Precious.
- You'd look like a monkey.

This is salvia.

- And that?
- AItramuces, saIvia and sorrels.

- Sorrels?
- Pretty, no?

- They're not meant to be eaten.
- And strawberries.

They're extraordinary!

It's incredible!

These are calfskins.

They eat corn, look.

They seem like prehistoric animals.

Seriously!

I have parsley.

They like it!

Take it.

This one has little horns.

At birth their horns are burned.

This one has been done badly.

No. 280 likes the parsley.

Lambs!

They're like monkeys!

We aren't carrying bread!

How little!

Monsieur PiIIaud!

- Hello!
- Hello!

- How quickly you bring them.
- Now they go to the farm's corral.

I'm bringing all of them late.

And they'll leave tomorrow?

Yes, they're confined for a while here.

- They'd be better off in a prairie.
- No.

- They eat better in the highway.
- There's more herb.

It's better in the fields.

- Yeah?
- Yeah, it's better.

Sure, the fields are trimmed.

- Look at those little flowers!
- Yes.

- Purple.
- Precious.

They're called fritiIIarias
or imperial crowns.

- Shall we take one?
- You can't rip them out!

They're protected.

There'll be a ministerial order
that prohibits ripping them out.

There are only three places
in France with this land,

and as mayor, I'd be able to
have an order put in writing.

- What do they have that's special?
- They're very rare.

- More than orchids?
- There are many orchids.

How pretty.

- Do you like what you
see in the field? - Yes.

It's precious and relaxing,

but after more than four days
I would get bored.

Because you don't do anything.

I don't do anything at the beach,
either, and I don't get bored there.

- Neither do I write.
- Write here.

Impossible!

I need the noise, the
movement, the chaos.

The lack of life kills
my inspiration.

This place is bursting with life!

Yes.

The lives of cows, birds, and frogs.

You'd also get bored without politics,

and your daughter would
prefer to be at the beach.

She could go to the beach
with her mother.

Over here, she's bored because
her friend isn't around.

And she will find another.

I doubt she could find one here.

Perhaps a peasant.

If there weren't already
enough peasants!

- Don't you know anything of the
actual field? - You do?

Yes, it's my element.

The electoral field, no?

You're Parisian from head to toe,

in voice, gestures, attitude,
clothes... in everything.

I am a landowner, like my family
for generations.

The land means nothing now.

It doesn't give identity, or power,
or wealth.

The people who think they have
roots in a land usually

have a more reactionary spirit
than there is here.

You see everything from a
localized point of view.

Modern man should broaden
his horizons,

to be a cosmopolitan, a citizen
of the world.

And to carry a pin that says
Made in USA?

My antithesis is that that man
is lacking in vitality.

Many city people conserve...

the rural roots of their ancestors.

Yes, only to forget them.

As soon as they save a little
they go on vacation...

to the other side of the world, to
Greece, to the Caribbeans...

Listen, you should sell your land...

and buy yourself a house on the
coast of Breton or Normandy.

Please, that's the height of vulgarity!

- You're a snob?
- Oh?

- You're the biggest snob in the world.
- They don't think so here.

More than a snob, they'd say
you're a dandy.

Because "snob" comes from sine
nobilitate,

which means "without nobility."

- And I'm not noble?
- Yes.

You used to say you were
"From Chaumes"...

and you changed that to seem like
you were from the working class.

My great-grandfather decided to
write it in two words.

and I hated it, it seemed
ridiculous to me.

- The snob fears ridicule.
- No.

The problem is that France was...

an agricultural country until the
principles of the 20th century...

and is becoming a country
solely industrial

What will become of the field?

Everybody in the world will have a
house in the country.

No, now there are fewer
second residences.

People are settling down in
the country for life.

In 50 years, many people will
move to the country.

- It'll be a rural demographic.
- No.

It will be dedicated to specific
activities in the city.

The rural demographic is no
longer agricultural.

They're bricklayers, carpenters,
or they work in nearby businesses.

And who will farm these fields?

Soon they won't exist.

There are 36 agricultural
operations now...

and in five or six years
there will be eight.

Sinister!

In 20 years there won't be
artisanal activities,

except from tertiary sources or
vanguard industries.

With the video, the fax,
and the computer,

Clerical work will be done at home,
you understand?

Yes.

Accounting will support itself with
a business with Paris headquarters.

We will mount in the home an
airplane motor or nuclear center.

Yes, it could be.

How pretty!

It seems like marzipan.

It's poisonous, resin from
pollutants.

These activities will put to a halt...

urban overcrowding and
rural desertification.

Then, there will be a harmonic
distribution of the population.

And the duality of the country-city
will disappear.

You don't believe it?

No.

It's utopian, it won't function.

Nature will return to the city:

the parks, the botanical gardens,

but the city won't return to
the country as you suggest.

No, the city has a very
strong attraction.

Much less than before.

To you perhaps, but the majority
live in the city...

because they find work there.

That's not how it goes!

What fascinates them in
the city are...

the infinite opportunities to know
people.

And even though they don't
know anyone,

the charm of passing by people
fascinates them,

the crowd, the human variety:

tall, short, young, old, pretty, ugly,

its charm, its ridicule...

That fascinates them.

There are a thousand possibilities.

In the country, the young, for
entertainment...

go to have the only coffee available...

or the dances with the same old
friends and the same music.

In Paris, although life is harder...

and there's less free time,

there's emotion, there are a
thousand possible projects,

a thousand neighborhoods, a
thousand movies, restaurants, fests.

It's exciting to know everything
is possible.

But here...

You are Parisian, a novelist,
and you believe in Balzac.

- No, ask them.
- And I do.

What do the young prefer?

They aren't bored, they don't want
to live in the city.

They dream of staying here.

You see it from outside...

and so everything seems sad,
inanimate,

and in Paris, everything
seems exciting,

but at the bottom of the people,

at the bottom of their heart, what
do they truly feel?

The emotion, the city.
No!

They feel solitude, that's all.

I prefer anonymity, solitude...

and dreaming of being able
to know people...

to always see the same ones and
feel that I'm observed.

You won't believe it,

but in Paris your circle is more
restricted than here.

I can change my circle there.

They're shits there!

Listen.

The opportunities to know people...

are greater here than in a city.

The relations surpass the
masses,

there are parties by the outskirts,

and that's nothing new.

According to historians, before,
in the country...

the possibilities for one looking
to be married were...

greater than now in the city, by the
festivals and the ferries...

where they could meet people
from different cities.

Perhaps, but after getting to know
one another, what would they do?

Entertain themselves,

and to work in positions that
they like,

that interest them.

They know to be entertained.

Let's make a toast.

- I would have wanted to offer...
- To you!

No, to my electoral victory,

but it'll be in the next
legislation.

The region is reactionary,

but the district is of the left.

- And that will not change.
- You had good results.

- Yes.
- Thank you.

- To all of us!
- To us!

To future victory.

Yes, and that it won't
fail us.

- To the mayor!
- To the mayor!

To the mayor!

We'll build in a protected zone.

But the project is of public interest...

and those from Historic Monuments
will support it,

because this project respects
the environment.

Many laborers from the zone...

use traditional techniques.

We'll turn to them instead of
people from outside.

This work will put local fashion
on a regional scale...

the techniques of regional
construction...

that, with luck, will survive.

and there have been private
initiatives seeing to this,

but a public one will make
an example.

You see?

Here a library will be built,

good, the mediatheque,

then we'll have a video library, record
store, expo center,

and there will be a theater and
a pool.

- It's enormous!
- It's an ambitious project.

- But it'll cover the whole town!
- Not at all.

It won't be very tall,

like much of the two plants.

It'll be built with stones from
the zone,

it'll conserve the style of the zone,

but it'll be a modern building.

- It'll be covered with stone?
- Yes.

I don't know.

This place has stayed very well,

because it's an authentic farm
with enormous ceilings.

It'll seem artificial, it'll become very
false.

It can't be built of steel next
to an old church.

Maybe there will be another option.

Acquiring stone from an
aritifical form...

I doubt that would keep very well.

Chapter Three

If the communal white willow...

won't have resisted the
passage of time...

Notice!

The jury of the concourse...

for the construction of the center
for culture and sports,

with a record store, pool,
and theater,

has failed in favor of the project
of Monsieur Antoine Pergola.

The plans will be displayed
in City Hall...

so that all may see them.

The mayor, Julien Dechaumes.

It's precious!

Precious!

And they want to destroy it!

What has happened?

Have they gone crazy or
am I the crazy one?

I won't be able to look at this photo
when they've devastated it all.

It's like photographing a dying man.

What's going on, by god?

And what's happening to you?

- How violent you are!
- That's not me.

But before these barbarities I'm
capable of anything.

I would even kill!

I would kill the architects.

If I had a gun, when they
destroy the works...

- Quiet!
- Do I frighten you?

- It's a joke.
- Don't say those things.

Only the death penalty should
apply to the architects.

It's more the fault of the mayor.

It's normal. He's a politican.

An architect should have good taste.

They will be respectful of
the environment.

This is the problem!

In the name of respect,
atrocities are committed.

If they built a mass of cement,
the people would protest.

But as it is they won't be able
to do anything.

It's a lesser evil.

Why not a greater good?

The evil is the mayor.

Yes, but what surprises me
more is...

the architects, who have studied art,

fail to see that this spot
is untouchable.

They would never touch a Ruysdael
picture for fear of damaging it,

but they dare to devastate
a landscape...

comparable to large works
by Dutch painters.

- Listen!
- That's beautiful.

How do they dare touch it?

- It's not a work of art.
- Yes, a place is just that.

Perhaps not before, when there were
a thousand landscapes like that,

but now they're scarce and they
should all be conserved.

All of them.

This landscape,

with the field, the tree,

the town, the church...

A masterpiece of nature and of man.

Who marks the boundaries of this,
constructd the houses

and plants the trees are
the artists.

The peasants of long
ago were artists,

more than any architect.

They won't cut down the tree.

If they destroy everything!

They promise to conserve them,
but then they destroy them.

There's always an excuse:

the exits, the irrigation systems,
the views covering the area.

How ironic!

Because even if they don't
destroy it, it's old...

and in the long run they will
destroy it.

It replants itself.

Before it replanted itself for
future generations,

like in the fable by La Fontaine.

They tell the old: "Even that plant,
but to build at that age"

or the reverse: "even that
construction, but to plant..."

You know what will happen?

Even if the building is acceptable,
respectable,

or is founded with the
landscape in mind,

we have only seen the tip of
the iceberg,

but they hide from us what will be
most visible of this construction.

- The exits?
- Yes.

The exits!

To the freeways, to parking lots...

The exits disfigure the country!

200 cars won't come if they
can't park.

That many cars won't always come.

No, but the mayor will bring
the theaters of Paris...

and there'll be 200 cars there,
even if they don't come,

and there's the matter of
where to park them.

So they'll construct what is called
a "parking lot"

in a space of artistic interest.

They will want to make it
subterranean and fell the trees...

but the land will be rotten.

Then, they'll make a parking garage...

a parking garage for free air...

and plant hills of thin, emaciated
bushes...

and to finish it all off,

those horrible, red, puny little trees,

a species of prunus...

of a sinister, cadaverous violet.

Death fascinates them!

They promise us death and
it'll be mine!

If I can't see the tree in
the coming days,

I'll have to leave this place!

I'll go! I shout, yes, but only because
the people are deaf!

You shout to an empty space.

- And where if not here?
- I don't know, but not here,

and it's better to act.

To act?

How ingenious!

A teacher cannot fight against
political interests.

The mayor works to his whim,
as supported by the party.

- What about the elections?
- Legislation?

I would only have my vote.

And mine, perhaps.

Thank you.

Besides, all parties are the same.

- Then don't shout.
- Zoe, no!

No, I like it very much.

- When you grow up, be a rep.
- Why not? That'll be quick.

Within three legislations I'll already
be 21.

You look forward to it now.

But you'll be studying...

and you won't want to come back
here to fix our problems.

You did it.

Because I was born in the city and
loved the country.

Besides, in ten years, the country
will be just like the city,

with all the negatives.

You're very pessimistic!

The country-city opposition will no
longer be like you say.

- And how will it be?
- I have a theory.

- Tell me.
- I haven't finished it yet.

Look, we were here the other day.

And there's the tree.

- This model is nice.
- With the perspective of the church,

and the houses are here.

- Is the proportion exact?
- Yes, exact.

- This is the pool?

Yes, at the top,

and the buildings alternate by the
slope of the land.

There's a big pool and another
small one.

- It's discovered?
- Yes,

and there's a solarium more
closer to this.

It'll only be used three months
of the year.

No, five months.

- Yes, it should be out in the open.
- There's a microclimate.

- That's the parking lot?
- Yes.

There are two: one up and another
down.

The pool is at the top...

and down, semidetached from the
pool, the theater is out in the open,

as we see in this plane.

Here can be seen the view
from the theater,

the entrance to the mediatheque...

and here is the tree.

- What will the steps be made of?
- Of concrete.

- And this too?
- The stage, yes.

But here we'll put a lawn, or conrete,

although we haven't decided,

and the details still need to be
worked out.

Here little trees have been drawn,
no?

They'll have grown in 15 years,

but I don't know if I like the idea of
planting little trees here.

We're in a village surrounded by
fields and centennial trees,

and to put trees in this modern
context, I don't know...

Look at the stone, Bérénice!

I'll take a photo.

The trees are small because they'll
be recently planted.

They'll cover the parking lot.

Look at the stone.

- Until then, it'll take years.
- Yes.

The stone is from the zone,

and the facade will cover it like so.

It's pretty.

The exterior facade of the side of
the school.

The theater will only be used if
it does well.

Yes, it's an outdoor theater.

- And if it snows in winter?
- It doesn't snow here.

It barely snows.

It could be covered.

Although there have been very
cold winters.

If this is done to scale,

it ultimately won't be very tall.

- The building?
- Yes.

The building is six meters high.

And should the parking lots
be done?

Of course!

So much space full of horrible cars!

They're not horrible.

Yes, many cars together
are horrible.

If it's empty it'll be horrible,
and if it's full, worse.

But if there's a spectacle,
people will want to park.

- So there'll be a subway.
- That's complicated.

I don't know if the budget has arrived.

I think it's essential to hide
those horrible cars.

- It'll be frightening. - In Paris,
there are thousands of cars.

But they're separated,
not all crammed.

Nobody likes the parking lots.

The parking lot is the least of it.

There will be two: one 70
plazas up...

and another 20 some down.

I don't know if it will suffice,

you should find another solution.

This ridiculous one
destroys a project,

that, certainly, strikes me as
very functional.

There's nothing imaginative,
everything is functional.

What do you want to do?

Put in decorations or statues?

No, but in the abbey of Thoronet...

there are very high ceilings,

with spaces that have been
designed without an end.

Yes, they have an end.
They are very useful.

They were built to facilitate the
sonority, the song,

and the exercise of spirituality.

- Spirituality, that's it.
- Spirituality here?

Yes, because it's a cultural place.

It's symbolic.

The spirituality is also present...

in this enclosed space, set against
the mediatheque.

It's inspired in the old theater,
the Roman theater,

with the front door to the
amphitheater.

The theater out in the open.

It'll be possible to act on the
footbridges, around the building,

and this will remain bare outside.

There will only be stone in the
porch of the entrace...

and on some sides,

and then, there are the views
to the village.

The view is very beautiful.

You don't want a build a place
that's not functional?

Everything is useful for something!

Then why does this
serve no function?

That's modernity.

- All is functional.
- Here, all should be.

It's always the minimum,

neither lost surfaces nor
large walls.

Yes, there are lost spaces. Look.

Yes, those in the parking lot.

I like it because it has a very
Vendean style.

I love this project.

Chapter Four

If Blandine Lenoir, editor of
"After Tomorrow," won't have,

won't have disconnected her
answering machine...

to record a France Culture
radio program...

It would be possible to explain
the apparition of certain currents,

and again there is something
that oscillates,

that we can call chance,

and that causes a new type to occur.

What we call chance in history is...

the coincidental convergence...

of needs of diverse kinds:

economic, political, social...

It's the unexpected convergence...

of those needs that are crossed...

that trigger an event,

that we will qualify with
the concept of chance.

It's evident that that...

doesn't explain what has occurred,

but only what has occurred
given certain conditions...

that permit us to obtain an
explanation a posteriori.

Never has it been deepened in
the chance in history.

It's a notion to which
we only resort...

to make it disappear,

therefore we use it to explain
some fact,

but a posteriori.

Does the notion of the
imponderable make sense?

Yes.

I believe the imponderable exists.

But the surprising thing is that
upon reading history,

the imponderable does not appear
in the historic explanation.

The imponderable makes us live
history in an intense form,

but it's also something that we
don't find in history...

because it's something that we
don't want to admit.

We live with the imponderable thing,

but we don't reflect on it or know
what to do with it.

Therefore we don't find this
dimension in history.

In history books, the imponderable
thing has disappeared,

because to introduce it
would be to make...

a certain type of philosophy
of history.

For the historian would be impelled
to make certain bold claims...

that would be science fiction.

The contrast would rest between
having a conscience...

that the imponderable thing exists...

or to a certain extent, that only
the imponderable thing exists.

Taxi!

- Good morning. How are you?
- I've tried locating him.

I forgot to turn on the
answering machine.

What's happening?

I'm sorry, but it's already
been an hour.

No, this is the second
missed appointment today!

We'll meet tomorrow at this time
if possible.

- I'm busy.
- I know.

- Tomorrow at 5?
- Yes.

Some would say I was doing them
a favor...

and they arrive late!

A cousin of my sister-in-law wants
to introduce me to his girlfriend,

the novelist Bérénice Beaurivage.

She wants me to write about
the journalistic world.

She wants to use me as a guinea pig,

but I won't help her, I hate to
talk about my work.

I don't have anything to say. Can
you believe it?

Neither do I.

You shouldn't generalize.

- I'm going.
- No.

Stay a little...

and if they're even later, then they
can wait.

- I don't care to return tomorrow.
- Stay.

I can't stand appointments with
only two people.

- It wouldn't hurt for you to talk,
either. - Marvelous.

You would interest him.

He belongs to a group of
young reformists,

something in the village.

We regretted the lack of leftist
youths.

This guy has political ambition,
although little force.

Observe him.

He's mayor of his village, in La
Vendée.

He lost in the regionals and is
presenting to the legislation.

Observe him.

What's his name?

He's not famous, nor will he be:
JuIien Dechaumes.

- They're here.
- Yes.

JuIien!

- How are you?
- Hello.

- Bérénice Beaurivage.
- Hello.

BIandine will accompany us.

- She's our best editor.
- Very good.

An expert in sociological politics.

Let's go.

Sorry about your defeat.

You'll have more luck in the
legislation.

That will be if they count on me.

The party?

I counted on their investment.

In La Vendée the majority
tendency belongs...

to a minority of the party on
a national scale.

Will the tendency last?

Yes, I'm with the young.

But the national instances
deny...

the names proposed by the
Vendean Federation.

- Then?
- I'll wait.

They should see that if they
impose other men,

the right will win a typical
socialist feud.

- You're that popular?
- I am there!

and in La Vendée that's vital.

They're royalists there.

Not that.

Yes, you are one.

You pretend to be a socialist,
but you're a royalist.

Come on now!

But yes, you are one.

He'd want to be a great man
with a right of pardon.

No!

- If the women are attractive. - You'll
have to endure, because they're ugly.

But it charms him to be flattered
by them...

and they listen to him as if he was
their protector.

I'm not sure about that, my relations
are on equal terms.

- As a great man would say.
- Enough!

I'll be quiet, don't get annoyed.

To be a royalist isn't an insult.

It's compatible with socialism.

Many countries with royalism,

Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Spain,

Belgium, Holland, have socialist
governments and are going well.

And in England, the laborers will
win.

Why not in La Vendée?

In the North perhaps, but not
in the South.

You ignore history and geography.

The South, where my district is,

has always been republican.

An ancestor of mine, a plebeian,

acquired the castle with
the revolution,

that went on to be national
patrimony.

That's monarchical tradition?

You think they'll elect you if
you're a candidate?

It'll be difficult, it's not yet clear.

I'm not in a hurry and the
situation is complicated.

The party should find new people,

if the right won't benefit from
the situation,

and luckily, the ecologists too.

Luckily?

At least, their votes will
be for the left.

But if they're reactionaries, they've
never been for the left.

- You think so?
- Yes.

Me too.

- The green will devour you.
- No.

The ecologists are allied with
the National Front.

That's absurd.

It makes no sense.

During the elections, the green
went to see me and told me:

"What's done here is that
we preach,

not only on the ecological plane,
but on the social as well."

They still go very far.

They believed that if working
hours are reduced,

the rent should descend.

That's a Fourierist utopia.

It's unthinkable.

It's a utopia of '68, Maoist,
totalitarian.

Any kind of totalitarianism
is the same.

The green should have left
politics...

and occupied themselves with
pollution, with rivers.

I need ecology.

I have a house in the country...

It's threatened by gasworks
and the ramp of a freeway.

The engineers dominate France.

All over the world, automobile
production is being reduced...

and here freeways are built.

What madness!

The engineers direct France's
bridges and roads.

and excuse me, but the mayors
are worse.

Decentralization gives them
so much power...

that they're permitted to
plunder the country.

My farm will be joined on
one side by a gasworks...

and a useless freeway by the other,

and around the beautiful village,
like in all of them now,

there will be premade houses
in lands...

that belong to friends of the
mayor, or speculators.

That brings us decentralization.

- Although I know this isn't your case.
- It isn't.

We'll build a great work there...

by an architect very respectful
of the environment.

- What will you make?
- A sporting and cultural complex.

- You have the permissions?
- It was costly, but yes.

You manage well.

We need more politics with
big projects.

- Make the most out of little.
- A minimum cultural guarantee?

- And the ecologists support you?
- Yes.

- Surely, the project is very timid.
- It's respectful.

It's respectful timidity or
timid respect.

I would build a great
big crystal bubble.

The pinnacle of respect!

- Seriously?
- No.

In general, political ecology
is dangerous...

because it's conservative
and even reactionary.

For the green,

the world should not progress,
but rather regress.

Since our origins, we continue
an evolutionary process...

that nobody should stop.

It's a fundamental truth of
evolution, indisputable.

Everyone should agree to that.

And if this evolution goes
a bad way?

What's good and what's bad?

If the planet became radioactive,
that's bad.

- We won't come to that.
- It could happen.

If we should die, we'll insulate
ourselves!

If life doesn't advance, the
pain of living won't go.

I refuse to live in order to
organize my survival.

How horrible!

If survival is the only option,
long live suicide!

Suicide can be beautiful,

but survival is degrading,
lamentable.

I don't believe those
ominous prophets.

Man still has a future and the
world will live,

progress, develop
in a good way.

Living beings have always
adapted to the environment.

Man will adapt to carbon
gas and radiation.

As fish adapt to water.

You confuse two things.

The natural evolution
of the universe...

and the damages caused by man,

that introduce his harmful will.

But natural law yields
before technology.

As a remedy to technology,

more technology is required.

That formula doesn't convince me.

It's simple.

Nothing is simple, evidently.

Indeed, the ecologists confuse
us with their simplicity.

A natural disaster is more
cataclysmic...

than one caused by man.

But nature activates
its defenses!

- Not always.
- Then how not?

No, long ago there were eruptions,
volcanoes, earthquakes,

floods or falling boulders...

whose effects have been much
worse...

than, for example, ChernobyI.

The problem is that we impede on
nature using its defenses.

- The forests are devastated.
- They are reforested.

- There's more than ever.
- Not in the Amazon.

And we are with the Amazon!

I'm in favor of the Amazon.

Seriously, the Indians, the primitive
life, the savage animals.

I'm in favor.

But who says that...

the green lung of the world lies.

Chlorophyl removes carbon
gas at night...

that absorbs during the day.

Not all of it.

It uses the absorbed carbon
to help form...

the vegetable substance that
sets into the land...

as carbohydrate.

I've spoken.

But very little, the minimum.

If we burn coal and
petroleum underground,

the planet will return to
its original state,

surrounded by an atmosphere
of carbon gas.

C + O2= CO2, no?

Calcium also fixes carbon.

The calcified rocks are...

an accumulation of the shells
of prehistoric animals.

In order to return to a primitive
atmosphere, we should extract...

the carbon of calcium carbonate
from the crust of the earth.

They confuse me, ladies.

We're losing time with
these digressions.

I'm sorry, but I'm very busy.

- Can we pay a visit to the house?
- I can show it to her.

How nice!

You don't mind?

We won't take much more time,
it's very nice.

- And the castle?
- No, they're houses.

No, look, the windows are
those of a castle.

Begin.

Yes?

- Can we change the appointment?
- Again?

Monday, good.

That's how it goes!

No, it was very good.

and I have a representative
of the new political class.

Yes. I will write an article
about Julien.

But if he isn't up to standard.

I find him very interesting.

Nothing, therefore,

and there are quite good speakers
who know it all.

Speaking is not his strong point,
that's true.

What he says isn't forceful,
but it seems meditated.

The majority of politicians seem to
have speeches without content.

He has a certain
hidden mystery.

Even etter.

He's persuasive,
and that's vital.

He told me about his village
and he wants me to visit.

It seems like an exemplary place.

And so go there!

They didn't want it,
she's not their type.

Thank you.

Don't be offended by my
first question.

Shouldn't you use the money...

for the mediatheque in another way?

The cultural animation doesn't
seem necessary...

for such a small town.

There will be more serious problems.

You suggest the reverse.

The money was given to me for
that, not some other thing.

I have good relations with the
Ministry of Culture,

and they gave me a hefty
subsidy.

It's not a personal favor, but rather
a political question.

In the north of the department,

the right defends traditional culture
and even monarchy.

The government is interested
in a republican replica in the South.

It'll be a type of culture less
traditional, more open and modern.

Tradition is only understood
if it evolves,

if not, it's folklore for tourists.

There is not a financial problem,

the state and the department give
out a lot of money,

but the money of contributors will
also be used,

what do you think?

If it doesn't cost anything!

We made a good operation...

selling to a small business...

a land that was handed down to
the municipality.

- You bought the land to build?
- But it was cheap.

Industries are setting up...

with commercial movement and
also culture and sports.

People won't go to the city for
the theater or swimming,

and people from the city will come
to see spectacles here.

It will serve to settle the
population...

and attract a new one.

We should save the country
from desertification.

- You seem like an ecologist.
- I agree with many of them.

And why don't you join
with your comrades...

who formed the
Ecological Generation?

I doubt that my arguments are theirs.

If I did, I would be unfaithful
to the party,

which has supported me,

and to the green, who helped
me in the election.

If I presented myself
under that name,

I would betray both them and myself.

It would benefit the right.

Ecology is something for all.

You can't label it as
a political thing.

That would be negative, and
would achieve nothing.

The ecologists can neither have
political programs,

nor economic, nor cultural.

But their leaders propose
concrete solutions...

for unemployment, delinquency,
or immigration.

But they're utopian.

We should be realists.

It surprises me to hear you
speak of realism.

That's of the right.

The right is less realist
than the left.

Because the left itself is moving
to the right.

I'll play the devil's advocate.

Your proposal is something
paradoxical.

On one hand,

you're situated in the far left,
out and out,

and on the other hand, you talk
of realism,

you preach traditional values...

and you have your humanism about...

the young dissidents of the right,

and since that distinction between
right and left...

has not been so clear for years,

why do you strive to situate
yourself on the left?

It's a diabolical question,

but not embarrassing.

The distinction between right and
left is still in force.

I grew up with leftist ideas,
there's my traditionalism.

If one day I disagree with my party,

it will be in the defense of
durability, not opening up.

Opening up is treason and
a tactical error.

The opposition between right and
left is still in force,

but it has been devalued...

because the typical values
of the left...

the right has claimed.

In this age, a certain dogmatism
in the left,

and not only the communist,

has provoked the right to adopt
values of the left,

like civility, equality, and tolerance,

that hoist the liberals.

There was a time when democracy...

and the replubic were judged.

But that and the motto,
"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity,"

they're not of the right, they're of the
legacy of the French Revolution,

and it's indecent that the right
makes them theirs.

What do you want?

- Can I play the piano?
- Yes.

Your problem is that the right
doesn't speak seriously.

They can't be considered of the left.

If democracy isn't more social,
I would say socialist,

there will no longer be a democracy.

I stand firm in that.

- You've lived here long?
- Some 20 years.

- And has the town changed a lot?
- Yes, for the better.

- For the better?
- Yes.

Above all, I respect
the ambience,

nature, everything.

- Does the type of clientele change?
- Not much.

The habitual clients come.

Some have passed away, but
it changes little.

Are the people different who come...

because they have their
second residence...

than the people who live here?

- Have you seen a difference?
- No, none.

Are they satisfied with the cultural
activities that are done here?

- Yes.
- Yes?

- Would you want there to be
something more? - Yes.

- Would you want there to be a
theater, or a cinema?

That would be progress, yes.

- Do you need anything?
- No.

But I'd want to have more
activities to meet people.

What are you referring to?

Activities that join people together,

little parties to make friends.

An association where you
could meet...

and do things together?

Yes.

- Do you imagine living here always?
- Yes.

But perhaps I should move a little,

because I don't know what awaits
us at the end of the century.

We don't have to because we can
stay here, without moving,

in this charming town.

I'm an objector and I do a social
presentation at City Hall.

- What will you do later?
- I want to teach English.

- Yes? - That opens up an ample
field for me.

Perhaps it's not the ideal profession...

if you're staying in a small town.

- Would you be able to teach English
here? - Just here, no.

Although now I teach adults...

and children in the school.

In Paris, there isn't English in
all the schools.

It's a pilot school.

Before I felt...

very worried about...

the problem of the farmers, it's real.

Yes, it is.

Farmers will have many problems
in six years.

- Why is it?
- Why?

Here the problem is unirrigated lands.

The farmers should irrigate in
an excessive way,

and even though I would say it's
completely absurd,

they should invest a lot of money.

The water reserves are exhausted
and there's too much productivity.

They cultivate corn and wheat, and
that's not advisable here.

What's the solution?

Trying to find more modern
means of growth...

and to do innovative things.

- That would be possible?
- Yes.

You should help them...

so that they won't take risks
alone...

to cultivate cucumbers,
for example,

and there have been
initiatives to that.

- Have you always lived here?
- Yes, I was born here.

Are there things that you miss or
that you would want to know?

I don't know what you're referring to.

There's a lot of talk about culture,

of a library, a record store,
and a theater...

We're not accustomed to that.

Before we worked a lot,
and later,

we only wanted to rest.

- The days were long.
- Very long.

- That's certain.

The land consolidation
was positive?

In part, to enlarge the properties,

something that required
the modern material,

but in certain places they would be
able to leave pastures,

that were very good.

Is it better to cultivate corn
for the cows...

than to take them to graze?

Taking them to graze costs more,

but if they ate fresh herb,
it would be better.

- For the quality of the meat.
- Yes, and the milk.

- It's better if they're eating fresh
pastures and vegetation.

You can see a big difference.

Why do we do something
so illogical?

For progress, evolution,

perhaps it'll stop one day,
I don't know.

Progress brings us nothing good?

Not for me.

But I'm old, understand?

I'm not modern.

- Do you have fields too?
- Yes.

- Many?
- 14 hectares.

- Do you have cattle?
- Yes?

Really?

And few remain, right?

Few are left, but I still have some.

- Yes?
- Yes.

- Can you show me?
- Yes.

- I'd like to see, is it far?
- No.

- How far?
- A kilometer.

A kilometer!

They are embarrassed.

- They're not used to seeing
journalists. - No.

Thanks for showing them to me.

I'll tell them and they'll be happy
to know it.

- Is it unique to still have cows?
- Yes.

- And you bring them here?
- Yes.

- And do you think you'll be able to
continue this? - For the time being,

and we'll see about the future.

How does the future look?

- What problems does it have?
- All kinds.

It has changed in the past 10
years, it's tremendous.

The people aren't understood,
there's less camaraderie.

and the farms will quickly disappear.

Yes.

I have 40 hectares, but it's not
enough to make a living.

My wife has worked
for the past month.

And without that, we wouldn't
be able to continue farming.

Sure.

Has the extensive farming
caused these problems?

I don't know, but there are many
expenses, not like before.

Before, the people lived better.

There were farms with three cows,
not more.

And now in the remaining farms,
they have locked cows.

And so, in six years, they'll be of
no use at all.

Mine live more than double
the typical lifespan,

- and they continue very well.
- Yes.

But they eat herb, which has good
nutritional value.

- Do you like them to be happy?
- Sure.

What future awaits this town...

when the positions disappear?

What happens here?

Where do the people live?

The environment has changed.

- How was it before?
- Before, you could see people.

Today, with the tractors, they all
go for the highway.

Before, they had went down to the
source of the river.

Many people went down.

Before, they went with oxen
or horses, depending.

They would go into houses
to chat,

but now people go in the tractor.

- There's no time for talking?
- Not now.

- It's very sad.
- Yes.

And now there aren't any bakers.

Do they bring bread in the trucks?

Is there any bread coming in?

They bring it from Sainte-Hermine
by car.

Or from Saint-Martin.

From before it was finished.

What do you think?

What can be done to maintain
life in the village?

Yes, that's the question.

- Do you have some idea?
- No.

They're not going to construct
a building...

for the few lectures in the library.

The one there suffices.

and if one day it doesn't suffice
it can be moved...

to one of the farms that are
sold inexpensively.

They don't want to satisfy
our cultural needs,

but rather those of other people.

From where, whom?

It's very vague.

Or perhaps there's not so much
at the bottom of it.

- I have a theory.
- What?

It's the politics of the mayor,

supported by the minister of culture
and by the president of the republic.

They should create animation
in the country.

Animation!

For those of the city,
the country is dead.

They should revive us.

It's a perverse effect of socialism.

Although it's an outdated concept.

It's a perverse effect of the state,

that overprotects us by
making decisions for us,

some decisions that impede on
our existence as individuals.

- Do you want to stop talking about
this? - No.

- I understand.
- Not necessarily.

Well, I'll show you something related,

but much more general.

Pity, because it's an argument
clarifier.

Tell me.

You'll see.

This work, whether it's done or not,

and I expect that it won't be done,

not only is a deceit to the electors,

it's part of a political agenda to
urbanize the town.

The mayor foresees that in 50 years,

there won't be farmers
in the municipality.

It'll be an urban zone, a suburb of a
city, Luçon,

that will belong to Nantes,

which is already a suburb of Paris.

The mayor isn't obligated to
cater to the farmers..

I'm not so sure.

What will happen in 40 years?

What will happen?

Was what happened in these
past three years predicted?

Not in the political environment.

- In the economic environment, it's
easy to predict it. - Not much more.

We make mistakes and we will
continue to make mistakes.

Did they predict the damages done
to the agricultural system,

by those fertilizing chemicals?

Will the Third World keep practically
giving us their materials away?

Why buy pears from far away
when they're better here?

So that the transportation functions,

the airplanes and trains,
which contaminate,

and they continue to build
more highways.

Almost all the disasters in the world
are caused by...

human displacement and
merchandise.

The country should be cultivated!

The people who like the country,

if it is urbanized, will not go.

At least, I won't.

If they build that, I will go.

Although he doesn't create it,

the mayor is a man of the city.

If he were a landowner,

he would establish here and
cultivate his lands.

His castle is his second residence.

The majority of mayors have a
second residence.

Illogical!

It seems like the old state.

The man with his castle in La
Vendée...

and his palace in VersaIIes.

They begged me to present to
the municipalities...

and I refused,

and not just to be peaceful.

Not because of that, but rather
because I wasn't born here,

and those who were have more
of a right...

to be in charge of their matters.

But after living, working, and knowing
people here for ten years,

I have more of a right to present
before Dechaumes.

- Present!
- No.

Why? It's normal for teachers to
present in City Hall.

They won't elect me.

From my family, I won't be
the one to present.

Then who will? Your wife?

No, my ten-year-old daughter.

She lives for politics.

Chapter Five

If it was printed in a magazine,

That Blandine had not been with
UNICEF in Somalia...

Hello.

- How are you?
- Very well.

Take this.

I'm so exhausted!

- How'd it all go?
- Well.

- Has he been good?
- He's sleeping.

You stayed up late?

- Mom?
- Yes!

- How are you?
- Good.

- Did you have fun?
- Yes.

- Manuella lets you do everything.
- No.

How not?

And this?

- You've done it?
- Yes.

After Tomorrow

Did I wake him up?

I just arrived home and
I called because...

About the magazine?

You're angry.

That's normal, I'll explain it.

Why have they cut so much of it?

Because it was too long and it
wasn't...

I decided for you.

But what's left is irrelevant.

- I went on about new politics.
- Julien wasn't what we wanted.

and the teacher was much funnier.

- Yes, a clown.
- He was moving.

I love his tree.

You're easily moved by ecology.

Ecology isn't only for ecologists.

The articles on the fight against
tobacco, pollution...

and the tree go well together.

The tree on the cover
sheet was bold.

He's my cousin, not yours.

And I'll explain it to him.

The honor of the profession
doesn't depend on you.

I'll know how to explain it.

And I'll do you a favor.

What you said would have
damaged his party.

JuIien!

- How's the article?
- Scandalous.

- Look at the cover sheet.
- The tree!

- It's not bad left in the cover sheet.
- And the title?

"The teacher prefers the tree
to the library."

If it's your problem, it's mine too.

- You can't leave this in the article.
- What are you saying?

- Have you read it?
- The two pages.

Are there only two?

- There will be a continuation.
- No, that is all.

Here it is.

"The mayor JuIien Dechaumes,

with his airs of a colonial
landowner,

seems right out of a novel by
Fenimore Cooper.

He'll give his town a sociocultural
and sporting center...

and a big one.

This project, financed in part
by the state,

will cost the municipality little...

and it will put to a halt
the exodus of the population.

It has been designed by the
architect, Antoine PergoIa.

But the director of the school,
Marc RossignoI, doesn't like it..."

That's all it says of him.

I didn't expect them to cut so much.

- They have to have something left.
- Yes, Fenmore Cooper.

That wasn't giving them credit.

- And you haven't read all of it.
- And I know about their tree!

It's precious, but it's rotten.

It won't last another three years,
it'll fall to pieces.

I'm furious!

It's the typical journalist,
manipulative and malicious.

Certainly!

- Use it for your novel.
- I will.

It's the archetype of the
newspaper director...

in search of sensationalism,

capable of anything
for novelty's sake...

or a photo to provoke shock.

Yes!

But it lowers the reputation
of a good journalist.

Yes.

There are various explanations.

The first, and least probable,

is that he's faithful to his clan...

and is a kind of spy of a certain
current of the party,

camouflaged by the ecologists

No, silly, that's not plausible.

There's another, more credible
answer.

The second hypothesis...

is that he's trying to situate himself.

Before the defeat of the party,

he wants to be with the ecologists
for certain personal ambitions.

That's more credible.

He wants to flatter the ecologists
for personal interests.

For his farm threatened by
a freeway.

Yes, you mentioned that.

His motives are opportunistic.

The third hypothesis,
and the most cynical,

is that one day he decided...

that I don't help politics...

and he doesn't want to yield.

I don't think so.

At least the teacher will be happy,

although, at the bottom he says
he'll serve me.

He's so reactionary that,
by comparison,

I seem like a leftist.

Yes, and how you still need it...

It's perfect!

Chapter Six

If Vega, the mayor's daughter,

won't have kicked her ball...

where it passed by Zoe,
the teacher's daughter...

- Thanks.
- Hello.

- You live here?
- Yes.

- Your father is M. Dechaumes?
- Yes, and yours?

Mine is M. RossignoI, director
of the school.

Mine is the mayor.

- The major?
- No, the mayor!

- With "y," not "j."
- Sure, I'm not an idiot.

- What's your name?
- Vega.

- And you?
- Zoe.

- Are you alone?
- Yes, well, with my father.

- And your mother?
- In Strasbourg.

- They're divorced?
- Yes.

I've gone on vacation...

and on Monday I go with my mom
to Britain.

- Do you have friends?
- Not here.

If you want I'll introduce you to mine.

- And do you play alone?
- I'm alone, yes.

- If you want, I'll play with you.
- Yes!

I can show you the orchard.

It's beautiful.

There are cherries over there,
but I prefer to go around here.

Let's go!

- So, do you see?
- I don't know what this is.

It's so big!

What's over there?

There are strawberries, wild
strawberries, flowers, and lettuce.

Where are we going?

You'll see.

You can walk all around there.

It's enormous.

- You like this color?
- Yes.

- And you?
- No.

I don't like anything.

It's horrible!

The next day...

Saved!

Dad!

- How are you?
- Good.

- You have a friend?
- Yes.

Zoé RossignoI.

- Hello. Are you the director's
daughter? - Yes.

- How'd you meet?
- She rode by in a bike.

Have fun, bye!

Monsieur! Can I talk with you?

- What about?
- The project.

- For the mediatheque?
- Yes.

I know that your father
doesn't agree,

but that's his opinion and I respect it.

Tell him that we can talk about it.

- Has he spoken to you...?
- No.

Tell him that if he wants to see me,
I'm at his service.

- But he doesn't want to.
- He doesn't want to talk?

- Is he afraid of me?
- He says that it would be useless.

Talking?

I'm in favor of a dialogue...

and a teacher should be, too.

He has his opinion and it was
made very clear.

I prefer to say things in person.

- In the magazine, they cut a lot of
him out. - Yes, of me, too.

But I'm not going to change
my opinion.

- He doesn't want to speak.
- So we won't speak.

- I want to speak!

- For him?
- For him, and for myself.

- So you want to speak for yourself?

What do you want to tell me?

I don't agree with my dad.

He's too pessimistic.

- Do you support the project?
- No, even less than him.

That's difficult.

He does nothing and I fight.

- Against me?
- Against the world, and people.

- Like?
- Discussion, as you say.

- Are you in a hurry?
- No.

- Will you be very late?
- A little.

Tell me.

- This project is unnecessary.
- Wait a little.

You will have a private pool.

You won't travel five kilometers.

It's only a bike ride.

- And the mediatheque doesn't
interest you? - It's very big and ugly.

And the video library?

You'll be able to see movies that
you haven't seen.

It's idiotic to destroy a field...

to put something that can be...

in one of the houses that are sold.

I'll tell you something you're ignoring.

It's easier to get money for building
if you're in the restoring business.

I obtained money for
a coherent project,

and I wouldn't obtain it
for something punctual.

The project interested the
Ministry of Culture...

because it regroups activities.

So the ministry is mistaken!

It's pointless to want to regroup
everything.

A theater, what for?

There's a room for parties.

- It's a ship.
- It adjusts.

It's expensive.

And the theatrical companies
would not come...

to an uncomfortable place
without acoustics.

- Is it better out in the open?
- There's no echo.

Like in the old theaters.

- And if it rains?
- It doesn't always rain.

Here it does often.

You are also very pessimistic!

No, but instead of in the field,

you could make it in another place.

The field was yielded for use.

Now there are cows, but not next
year.

What would you put?

- You wouldn't understand my
proposal. - Why not?

There's something that the town
needs much more.

- What?
- Green zones.

Green zones?

Green zones are everywhere!

We're in the country!

In the city there are, but not here.

You have the park, but what
about those of us without one?

I've read that before, the children
played in the parks,

they caught flowers, butterflies,
ladybugs...

now everything is surrounded,

and if we manage to enter, there
are dogs that chase us.

People with children will not
want to go to the country...

if there are no fields or forests
or anything left.

What you say is hardly foolish.

But there are forests nearby.

- About five kilometers.
- A bike ride.

I don't want to make you angry,

But what's done is done.

The mediatheque will be done.

But, in general, your demands
are very legitimate,

and I congratulate you for thinking
about something that not many do.

It's certain that if the fields start
to disappear,

recreation zones will have
to be made,

and one must be optimistic.

In the future, there will
be fields sold cheap...

and they will be transformed
into recreation zones,

but thanks for your proposal.

It's adjusted to my ideas, and the
municipal project, and all of it.

I love that you dared explain it
to me.

- How old are you?
- Ten years old.

At your age, I would not have
thought of that.

- What do you want to be?
- I don't know.

You'll think about it.

If you see your father, tell him
I'm willing to talk...

about the mediatheque, and the
pool, and the tree.

Good...

- I'm going, goodbye.
- Goodbye!

Chapter Seven

If a functionary, completing his
work,

won't have been so jealous...

Mayor!

- Hello.
- Do you remember me?

- How are you?
- Good, thanks.

- Sorry about the article.
- It was Régis's fault.

- How do you know? Has he told you?
- No, it's just a guess.

I quit.

- Now I work for UNESCO.
- Oh, good.

- How is your project?
- It's going very badly.

- Is the article to blame?
- No.

The process has been paralyzed.

- Did they remove it from
the subsidy? - No.

There's a functionary of Equipment...

who said the land wasn't reliable.

- He didn't test the subsoil?
- Yes, it was dry as a rock!

There's an aquifer exhausted
by irrigation...

and that won't recover in
a thousand years.

Even still, I should reinforce
the foundation.

- Is it expensive?
- Not even 5% has come in.

But I don't have it and neither
does he.

- Ask the ministry.
- They won't speak!

and they regretted giving
me so much...

and they prefer not to do it.

I thought about selling part
of my lands...

and taking a loan from City Hall,

which will have already
refunded it for me.

But there's only a buyer,

an Englishman who wants
to make a golf course.

I would lose my park...

and it would go against my idea
of creating popular leisure.

- You have no reason to be ruined.
- Ruined, no!

If it mattered, I would be.

But politics should be realistic,
not quixotic.

A politician should be a pioneer,
and have followers.

If they don't follow me,
what can I do?

Shall we have drinks?

Zoé, go get my geography book.

- For your father.
- Thanks.

Thanks.

The mayor's.

"The Municipal Counsel
has renounced...

the project of a cultural
and sporting center...

for lack of sufficient funds.

The direction of equipment
requires certain works...

that surpass the cost of
the credit received."

Yes, I knew it!

- If I hadn't talked with him...
- Bravo!

You will be a representative.
Applause!