60 Years Ago: The Serre-Ponçon Dam and Its Cultural Legacy

In May 1961, the Serre-Ponçon dam was completed, creating Europe's third-largest artificial lake to regulate the Durance River and irrigate Provence. The project submerged the villages of Savines and Ubaye, displacing residents; Savines was rebuilt as Savines-le-Lac. Only the 12th-century Saint-Michel chapel survives on an islet. To preempt criticism, French electric company EDF commissioned writer Jean Giono in 1955 to script a film about the construction. The resulting movie, "L'eau vive" (1958), directed by François Villiers, starred Pascale Audret as Hortense, an orphaned heiress navigating greedy villagers. It competed at Cannes and won a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film but was never distributed in Italy. Giono, a Provencal writer and early ecologist, had previously collaborated with Marcel Pagnol on films like "Jofroi" and "Angèle." His 1953 story "The Man Who Planted Trees" became an environmentalist icon. The film's soundtrack by Guy Béart, father of actress Emmanuelle Béart, was a massive hit, becoming a lullaby. The dam's construction sparked debate between progress advocates and those defending pastoral traditions.