THE OPINION OF “THE WORLD” – TO SEE
The story is insane and deserves a film. The one we deliver the director Thomas Bornot and the writer Cyril Montana is more about reporting than documentary. Which, over eighty-six minutes, has the effect of stretching the subject and making it tedious, by dint of anecdotes and unnecessary considerations. We get used to it nonetheless, as the said story has what it takes to fascinate, to arouse indignation, and to generate suspense which we allow ourselves to be taken despite the lengths which distance us from it. Cyril vs Goliath tells us about the beautiful and ugly adventure of a village whose life is confiscated by a lord. A contemporary story whose facts occurred in the early 2000s, in the heart of the Luberon regional natural park.
In Lacoste (Vaucluse), precisely. A small medieval village of 400 inhabitants, perched on the hillside and crowned by a castle which was, in the XVIIIe century, property of the Marquis de Sade. The spirit of the divine marquis has never completely died out in Lacoste, where artists have long come to meet and settle. In the 1950s, André Breton, Max Ernst, Picasso, Man Ray, René Char, and others, sculptors, painters, poets, choreographers from around the world. Italian, Spanish, German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, American authors and creators met in the gardens, streets and courtyards of Lacoste, to exchange, debate and frolic. As the archive footage shows us, a wind of freedom and joyful celebration reigned between the blonde walls of this medieval village.
Pierre Cardin ends up owning around forty houses, ten shops and forty hectares of land which he leaves empty and unused
Then time has passed which gives neither men nor stones a gift. As the poets died down, the Marquis’ castle, standing since the 11th centurye century, was falling apart. A patron then appears. In 2001, Pierre Cardin decided to acquire and restore it. He wanted to create a lyric art festival in the quarries near the castle and make Lacoste a “Local Saint-Tropez of culture”. The promise warms the hearts of the inhabitants, peasants, traders and artists who have long taken up residence in the village. None of them can suspect the poison it is carrying.
Because Pierre Cardin, as he says himself, collects “Houses like other stamps”. The millionaire has the means to buy and convince those who are reluctant to sell. Gradually, he extended his property, ended up owning around forty houses, a dozen shops and forty hectares of land which he left empty and unused. He refuses to rent or manage: too much hassle. Deprived of its coffee and its traders, and of a part of its inhabitants who have been displaced, Lacoste becomes, in the prince’s knowledge, a village-museum.
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