The Tree, the Mayor and the Mediatheque

1993 film by Éric Rohmer

The Tree, the Mayor and the Mediatheque (; known also as Les sept hasards) is a 1993 French comedy drama film written and directed by Éric Rohmer. The film was shown at the 1993 Montreal World Film Festival where it received the FIPRESCI prize. The frame story involves the mayor of an isolated French village who, to further his political ambitions, secures a grant to build a sporting and cultural centre, but the necessary felling of a fine willow outrages the schoolteacher and his daughter. Within the frame there is much debate about the current state of France: city versus country, agriculture versus industry, conservatism versus progress, the environment versus growth.

In Saint Juire Champgillon, a remote village of traditional left wing adherence in the Vendée, Julien Dechaumes has inherited the manor house and grounds and has been elected mayor, though he spends much of his time in Paris with his mistress. There he successfully lobbies the Ministry of Culture for a grant to build a state of the art sports and media centre. By enhancing his reputation in the area, it will boost his chances of entering national politics under the socialist banner. Opinion in the village is mixed, with the most passionate opposition coming from the schoolteacher, for whom the destruction of a 100 year old willow symbolises all that is wrong about the plan. When a journalist on a left wing magazine visits the village to talk to people, her editor cuts her piece to focus on the teacher and the tree. The teacher's ten year old daughter explains to the mayor that all the children want is not the sophisticated facilities on offer but just green space and trees. A survey reveals that the water table has dropped alarmingly, needing costly groundworks that make the whole project unviable.