To see at the cinema: After the 900,000 admissions of Petites Victoires, the new hit country comedy with Clovis Kornilak?

A year after Colors of Fire, Clovis Kornilak is back – this time only in front of the camera – with the dramatic comedy Monsieur, the Mayor. The actress shares the bill with Eye Haïdara (Le Sens de la fête), Jean-Pierre Martin and Laurence Côté.

Written and directed by Carine Blanc and Michel Tavares, the feature film follows Paul Barras, the mayor of a small mountain village located at the foot of Mont Blanc. The latter is fighting to keep the business and protect the school from the announced closure. While she desperately searches for ways to attract new families, the arrival of single mothers in dire situations, including Jo-Lynn, a standout singer, and her two children, quickly sparks sparks in this peaceful village.

A theme already discussed this year in Melanie Aufre’s feature film, awarded at the Alpe d’Huez Comedy Film Festival, Les Petites Victoires with Julia Piaton and Michel Blanc.

The first feature film of the film-making duo, the idea for this film arose from the desire to work together for cinema, after already collaborating in theater and short film.

A film about desertification in rural areas.

Michael Tavares Explains in the press kit: “When we think of a first film, we don’t always start with a theme. At least as far as we were concerned, we started wanting more. That we were talking to the child that we were. Together with Karine, we realized that our childhood had many similarities: in the countryside, with big dreams, but very far from the world of cinema.

As luck would have it, the producer Yves Marmion, with whom Karine and I have already worked, came to offer an opportunity to tell the daily life of the village mayor. It turns out that both of us were already working on this topic and were focused on the problem of rural desertification. During our research, we came across a story that moved us, that of the mayor of l’Hospitalet-près-l’Andorre, who revitalized his village by opening a shelter for women in need..”

Carine Blanc and Michelle Tavares set up and learned about shelters for battered women, but also about the desertification of the countryside.

The director explains: “Paul (Clovis Kornilak) is the result of a lot of research that Karine and I have done on the mayors of the village. We’ve met some of them, watched a lot of documentaries and read some not too bad testimonials..

A village mayor has nothing to do with a big city. Being unsupported, he must personally take responsibility for the individual and collective problems of his constituents: these range from their social and financial problems to managing marriages or neighborhood quarrels, including road accidents and even suicide. He is criminally responsible and is responsible for performing certain administrative and judicial functions on behalf of the state.”

Carine Blanc adds: “We found quite a few anecdotes about mayors who, in order to reach the number of students that would allow them to keep a school, make up children who don’t exist. We didn’t use them because some were surreal and we wanted to stay true to life and realism. First of all, we have seen that mayors are often very creative and full of suggestions to provide innovative solutions to improve the quality of life of their constituents. They are elected officials who lack neither energy nor ideas.”

Talk about “living together” without the moral lesson.

in a feature film, Clovis Cornillac Trying to breathe life into the village of Cordon, which is a real village located in the Alps 12 kilometers from Megeve. The latter, who has more than 70 films, really liked the script, which is about “living together”.

In the press kit, he emphasizes: “JI found it rich and fascinating. In addition to the subtlety with which he combined the portrait of a small-town mayor and a portrait of a struggling mother, he looked at all kinds of social problems, including the survival of isolated villages and the problems of battered women forced out of marriage. at home.

We were in the midst of what we call the politics of proximity, a politics that we talk about little and therefore have the wrong idea about. This scenario showed that it is possible to talk about “living together” without it being an excuse to temporarily deliver a moral lesson.“

And this is an actor eye hydara, already seen in The Sense of Party, In Therapy or more recently in Hawaii, playing the role of Jo-Lynn. He states: “Jo-Lin is a positive character who goes through the worst trials of women’s lives, but maintains an unwavering sunshine energy. He is constantly moving forward and always believes that there is a way out because he simply has no other choice. She is a woman who raises her children alone, but she does not feel the weight of this loneliness. She also exhibits a collective conscience and cares for the fate of the other women around her.”

The latter had to learn to dance and sing for the needs of the film. “We had a very short time to prepare for the result, which was ambitious. But this is the most interesting thing in our work. So, we came to the basics of singing and guitar lessons. For country dance lessons, it was more difficult because you had to have the ease of the teacher. As an anecdote, I don’t know my right from my left, which is necessary to teach others to dance! We had to redouble our efforts before the day of shooting.” He comments.

Mr. Mayor It’s currently in theaters.