Être sans avoir... Mais pas pauvre !

35 years ago, Jean-Paul Grospélier gave up his job as a draftsman in an architecture office, and, at 21, took the plunge into the dream of returning to the land, as many did back then. He ferreted out his dream nest in the french mountainous region of Haut-Jura : the ideal farm must be isolated, without water nor electricity and above all, without rent ! 35 years later, Jean Paul still lives without comfort in this almost-ruin, when many of the candidates to a new life of the 70's have packed away their dreams. But he help up, still determined to be both poor and happy. Today, Jean Paul must leave his "snow squat". The tacit contract that served as a leasehold for 35 years ended up with the passing of the landlady. Instead of researching a new ruin, he decided to build up his own house, without money, without budget, but by retrieving the stones on the farms' ruins nearby. On a windy plateau at an altitude of 1200 meters, with a magnificent view on the southern Jura, he found a little piece of land... unqualified for a building permit... And as he never does anything like the others, he chose to build with cut stone, all alone, at his own rythm. The work is huge, the construction is slow, which annoys or puts a smile on the faces of the inhabitants of the plateau, but all recognize the quality of his construction. It's been eight years that Jean-Paul shares his life with Anne and her two daughters, aged today 12 and 13. A family. Out of school for five years, the girls have wished to go back to school, middle school, where they have met comrades and... very good grades. With one regret however, being once again prisoners of the school's calendar, from now on forbidding the family to head towards the sun on the old caravan during the winter months... A Christophe Ferrux movie, Vie des Hauts production