“Jean le Cam got caught up in the game”: Port-la Forêt and its skipper starring in the latest film by Xavier Beauvois

South Finistère on the big screen! This Wednesday, November 13, the film by Xavier Beauvois is released in theaters The Valley of Foolsthe story of a man struggling in his life, played by Jean-Paul Rouve, who decides to do the Vendée globe on his computer from his garden. A moving story that takes place here in Finistère near the pontoons of Port la Forêt.

“This will be my fifth Vendée Globe“, confides Xavier Beauvois, amused. The director has never taken part in a round-the-world sailing trip, but he is an unconditional fan of Virtual Regatta, this game which allows you to think of yourself as a skipper on each major race Problem, he never managed to do better than that. 63,000th in the final ranking. “I say to myself, but what do those who win do? What if we made it real for fake? Then I invented a family, I invented everything else“.

The feature film tells the story of Jean-Paul, an alcoholic father who decides to lock himself away for the duration of the race, in real conditions, in a sailboat installed in his garden. The framework immediately imposed itself on the director: “Port-la-Forêt is the Mecca of sailing. To me, it’s incredible that there is such a concentration of champions in such a small place. We can admire the boats like that, without problem, meeting the skippers, it’s quite incredible“, says this ocean racing lover.

Common points

And how can we talk about Port-la-Forêt without mentioning its legendary skippers? Xavier Beauvois called on two navigators who fascinate him: Michel Desjoyeaux and Jean le Cam“to give some credibility to this story. And then it was also because I am a fan of these people, so it was the opportunity to meet them during the adventure. It’s the magic of cinema“. The director got closer in particular to the couple from La Forêt-Fouesnant.

“Jean got into the game of the film, his wife Anne too, she was delighted to get out of the world of sailing and to see that we had things in common, the search for money, sponsors, budgets, price films, boats, filming time and at sea”he says. The film crew then went to greet the sailor before his departure to Les Sables d’Olonne. And as a wink, the stuffed monkey that accompanies Jean-Paul Rouve in the film has gone around the world, the real one this time, alongside Jean Le Cam.