Mr. Mayor: Does the village of Clovis Cornilac really exist?

What is it about? The mayor of a small mountain village at the foot of Mont Blanc, Paul Barral, is struggling to keep businesses afloat 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.

Not without resolution, Mr. Mayor may have found a unique solution to bring life back to the abandoned area…

Where does the movie take place?

Mr. Mayor’s village is called Cordon. It is located in the Alps, 12 km from Megève, Haute-Savoie, with spectacular views of Mont Blanc. Directors Karin Blanc and Michel Tavares confide: “We just changed it to make it seem less developed and isolated than it really is. Our story could have happened in any village in France. But we wanted to climb the mountain, firstly because Michelle and I were born there and secondly because its scenery is very cinematic.”

“We did a long scouting trip in the Alps and I really fell in love with Cordon. Because of its geographical location, but also for the kindness of its inhabitants – some of whom appear in the film – when we decided ‘there we go’. If the mayor saw that they would ask permission to use the name of his village. He gave it to us.”

Directing duo

Michel Tavares and Carine Blanc met in Cours Florent. The first wrote scripts and the second plays. “We organized the first show together based on the text I wrote and directed by Michelle. During the performances, we wrote and sent the script for our first short film to the Grenoble Open Air Court Film Festival. “

“We won the prize, and in the process, to produce it, we produced and created our own company, Takami Productions. Since then, we have devoted ourselves to filmmaking, alternately producing, writing, directing. Our collaboration has never stopped.”the film director recalls.

The birth of the project

For Mary, Carine Blanc and Michelle Tavares began wanting to talk about the child they were. “Together with Karine, we realized that our childhoods 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 had already worked, came and offered to tell us about the daily life of the village mayor.”

“It turns out that both of us were already working on this topic and focused on the problem of rural desertification. During our research we came across a story that disturbed us, that of the mayor of l’Hospitalet. -Press-l’Andorre, who revitalized her village by opening a shelter for women in need.The director confides.

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Who for Paul and Jo-Lynn?

For the role of Paul, Carine Blanc and Michelle Tavares wanted an actor who was both down-to-earth and down-to-earth, expressive of humanity. “We thought of it right away ClovisWho combines these two special qualities and who comes, like us, from the theater”, they remember. The actor explains:

“Beyond the subtlety with which the script intersected with the portrait of a small-town mayor and a struggling mother, it looked at all kinds of social problems, including the survival of isolated villages and the problems of battered women who were forced to leave.” wedding house.”

“We were in the midst of what we call the politics of proximity, a politics about which we talk little and, as a result, many people have the wrong idea. This scenario showed that it is possible to talk about ‘living together’, without it being an excuse at any time. , to provide, in short, a moral lesson”.

About the actress Eye Haïdara, revealed by her energetic character in the profitable comedy Le Sens de la fête (2017), the filmmakers elaborate: “He also comes from the theater. Like Clovis, he has a very embodied performance. We saw him in En Thérapie and Le Sens de la fête, where he surprised us with his temperament and conveyed great emotion.”

“Twali worked hard. He didn’t know how to dance or sing and had little time to learn. He accepted the challenge brilliantly. He is a very attentive and very pleasant actor. Instinctive and tough.”

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Learn about village mayors

The character of Paul is the result of extensive research work that Carine Blanc and Michel Tavares have done on rural town mayors. The directors met some of them, also watched a lot of documentaries and read a lot of testimonials: “We also got a lot of inspiration from our families, from the people we grew up with. I admit that Paul’s generosity, his courage and his pragmatism owe a lot to my father, who was an entrepreneur.”

“The mayor of a village has nothing to do with the issue of a big city. He does not have much support, he has to personally take responsibility for the individual and collective problems of his constituents: this includes their social and financial problems, right up to the management of marriages. Or due to neighborly quarrels, car accidents and suicides. It bears criminal responsibility and is responsible for performing certain administrative and judicial functions on behalf of the state.”