Malevil
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Malevil is a 1972 science fiction novel by French writer Robert Merle. It was adapted into a 1981 film directed by Christian de Chalonge and starring Michel Serrault, Jacques Dutronc, Jacques Villeret and Jean-Louis Trintignant [1].
The story's events take place in 1979 (i.e. in the future relative to the date of the book's appearance). The protagonist is Emanuel Comte, former school director, now turned major farmer and landowner, who is also an owner of a tourist attraction - an old castle called Malevil after the nearby village. Comte is highly motivated, but a pleasant, well-respected person with a talent for diplomacy and leadership.
By chance, he and several of his friends find themselves in the wine cellar of the castle during the sudden and unexpected outbreak of nuclear war. They never find out who started the war and why, since the media did not report any special international tensions up to the outbreak of the war. The survivors find their surroundings destroyed and scorched to ashes, everything and everybody gone. After the first shock they pull themselves together under the leadership of Emanuel and start to rebuild their homestead, still considering themselves doomed in a dead world. After a while, however, they find out that other people have been able to stay alive in nearby farmsteads and villages. Nature starts to revive itself, bits and pieces of human society start to reassemble. From time to time more survivors show up, some bringing death and destruction with them.
One of the main challenges of the slowly emerging new society is to fend off the threat of a new theocratic dictatorship that has taken over the neighboring town with the assistance of a marauder gang. Love and true friendship, as well as different philosophical issues make up a great deal of the story. Finally prospects for better future seem to be firm, when Emanuel prematurely dies. However, the new society whose foundation he has helped to lay will thrive and he will not be forgotten.
