On Monday, February 17th, at 6pm in the Rosenthal Lecture Room at the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach’s offices, the comedy film The Tree, the Mayor and the Mediatheque (1993) will be presented.
In master French director Éric Rohmer’s hands a simple story of town planning politics becomes a moving moral tale.
The socialist mayor of the village of Vendée has plans to take a beautiful field on the edge of town and turn it into a high-profile cultural center in order to propel himself into national affairs. He intends to replace the field with a sports and cultural center, along with a large parking lot. The only initial opposition to this plan comes from a sensitive schoolteacher, and he's hardly a threat, because he does not imagine he can successfully oppose the builders' designs. However, trouble begins to thwart the mayor's plans when his daughter and the daughter of the schoolteacher become friends.
The New York Times reviewed it saying “[Rohmer] manages in this film to make a kind of romance out of the language of politics. . . . a caustic critique of politicians who meddle with concepts like urban planning, architecture and ecology.”
The New Yorker praised it stating, “this richly discursive political caprice, filled with intriguing effluvia of French electoral infighting, is, surprisingly, one of Éric Rohmer’s most personal films.”
The Foundation’s Executive Director Alexander C. Ives will present a short introduction, linking the film with the causes and work of the Preservation Foundation.
The showing is FREE to all. However, only reserved seating is available. Those who wish to attend must call 561.832.0731, ext. 110 to reserve a seat. Email responses are not accepted.
The showing will begin at 6pm.
Please note, doors lock at 6:15pm.
The film’s approximate runtime is 2 hours and 30 minutes.
Refreshments will be provided.
As with all events, the Preservation Foundation expects attendees to act respectfully. We reserve the right to turn away anyone.
Also our February Newsletter just went out in the mail this week. For those interested in a downloadable copy, feel free to get a 7MB Adobe PDF file of it here:
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