The Eye of INA: the Foncouverte series, back to the sources of happiness

After months of confinement and grayness, the discovery, or rediscovery, of

should allow many hearts to be warmed.

The 52 thirteen-minute episodes of this then daily soap opera, now gathered on Madelen, constitute rays of sunshine that we really need.

To read also: The Eye of the INA: the death of Napoleon seen by Alain Decaux and André Castelot

In a traditional Provençal decor, with matching accents, the false notes which disturb the song of the cicadas are at the origin of the emotion emanating from a story which fascinated France, during the summer of 1965. The number of television viewers who have not missed it a single evening greatly exceeds the sales of 45s of the three stars of this summer season Christophe, Hervé Vilard, and François Deguelt.

At a time when many of our fellow citizens are wondering if they are not going to leave polluted cities to find the pure air of the countryside,

taking on a historic dimension. The scenario is indeed based on the opposite phenomenon: the exodus of families to large cities. It marked the beginning of the 1960s, and finds itself at the heart of a story whose starting point is reminiscent of the key scene of

and

 : a drop of water no longer flows from the last fountain in this hamlet.

The last thirteen inhabitants of a village where there were once 700 of them, have no other solution than to leave. On the other hand, Balthazar, the “Papet”, decides to stay. He remains resolutely attached to a land that he cannot imagine seeing die before him. He becomes the guardian of empty houses and fallow vegetable gardens. He will have to resist an administration that has decided to requisition this land to give it to others.

This role allows Lucien Barjon, an actor from Sète who will be found in the fictions

and

to be unanimously hailed by the critics. A spotlight is also given to the young premiere who plays Blanchette, his adopted daughter: Danielle Évenou. She is 22 years old, and observers predict a good career for her…

Broadcast at 7:40 pm on the first channel, Fontcouverte was imagined and discussed by Jean Canolle. Originally from Toulon, he grew up in Provence. The characters he brings to life in this story are directly inspired by his childhood memories. Viewers know his name since he already signed, in 1961, the hundred episodes of

. He began to write at the age of 13, before showing his talents as a soap opera by becoming the author of a river series called

, broadcast daily for several seasons on Radio Luxembourg. Having become a specialist in antiheroes, he will blacken thousands of pages, transformed into soap operas which, until the 80s, will make the beautiful evenings of the small screen. Among them are series in twenty-six episodes, such as

,

,

and

. Pages in the history of television that deserve not to be turned and that we may evoke one day ...

Find the

Foncouverte