Page 23 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Provence & The Côte d'Azur

A POR TR AIT OF PROVENCE  21

The dramatic, isolated crags of Les Pénitents des Mées, in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence
were not to be trusted, and remained The fact that Piat was a woman made
outsiders forever. A seemingly trivial slight no difference to her enemies, ironic in
might spark a feud which could last for a region where women have not been
generations. There are still villages today treated as equals. Alphonse Daudet noted
where one family does not speak to another, the Provençal male’s “incurable contempt”
even though each has long forgotten why. for women, however, the Queen of Arles
This attitude, and its tragic implications, was is elected for her virtues as an upholder
finely portrayed by Yves Montand, with of the traditional Provençal values. It
Gérard Depardieu as the shunned outsider, was also this region that nurtured the
in Claud Berri’s films of Marcel Pagnol’s Jean 20th century’s icon of French woman-
de Florette and Manon des Sources. The more hood, Brigitte Bardot. Furthermore, the
cosmopolitan coast is the territory of film town of Aix-en-Provence has had a female
noir. Here, the tradition of silence and family mayor since 2001.
ties has not always been beneficial. Jean- There are great rewards for the visitor
Paul Belmondo and Alain Delon romanti- who can appreciate the many facets of
cized it in Borsalino; Gene Hackman revealed Borsalino; Gene Hackman revealed Borsalino; Provence – its traditions as well as its
its dark underside in The beauty and glamour. But,
French Connection. the more often you
In 1982, the Antibes- return, the more you will
based English novelist realize, as have some of
Graham Greene published the world’s greatest
an exposé of corruption in artists and writers, that
Nice. In 1994, Yann Piat, anti- part of the endless allure
drugs campaigner and of Provence lies within
member of parliament, the very secrets that it
was assassinated in Hyères. Peillon, a perched village in Provence refuses to surrender.