Luxury Indian Ocean LUXURY MAURITIUS No 5 EDITION 2018 | Page 53

GRAND ANGLE

a décidé de ne plus se mettre en maillot sur la plage , elle se promenait avec des tuniques ou des robes légères et toujours de couleur blanche . Elle ne se laissait jamais aller . Elle aimait être belle . Elle était belle . Et elle est restée belle jusqu ’ au bout . »

Il y a trois ans , le couple a fait une infidélité au Royal Palm pour cause de grands travaux . Des amis mauriciens leur ont trouvé un beau campement à louer tout au bout de la Pointe aux Canonniers . Mireille m ’ avait dit combien elle avait aimé se promener sur la Pointe , faire ses courses dans le village , discuter avec le boulanger , le petit marchand de légumes du côté de Mont Choisy ou visiter la galerie d ’ Hélène de Senneville .

Ce contact avec les Mauriciens , elle le retrouvait chaque dimanche et chaque 15 août à Cap Malheureux , dans la petite église blanche et rouge où elle s ’ amusait à voir les oiseaux participer à la messe . Mireille était très croyante . Et c ’ est avec beaucoup d ’ émotion que son mari me parle du père Jacques Harel , « un grand homme et un saint homme , je sais qu ’ il a dédié une messe au mois d ’ août à la mémoire de Mimi ».

Un jour à Paris , alors qu ’ elle visitait avec Pascal une exposition du grand photographe Sebastião Salgado à la Galerie Polka , elle a confié à Brigitte , ma femme , journaliste , grande voyageuse et amoureuse elle aussi de Maurice , que nous avions beaucoup de chance d ’ avoir un fils et une belle-fille qui habitaient dans ce paradis . Elle a raison .

Mireille ne retournera pas dans son île . Mais sa nouvelle résidence principale est pour toujours au Paradis .

‘ It is a beautiful love story which has lasted fourteen years in the company of my husband , Pascal ; some very close friends including Jean- Pierre Foucault and Evelyne ; and all those Mauritians I have met on the beach , in the small restaurants in Grand Bay , in the hotel or as our neighbours . I have never met such kind people .’ When she spoke to me on the phone , about Mauritius , for the last time on the 30 th of July , she sounded very tired but also sad . ‘ I know that I will never see my island again , I am too weak , I need permanent assistance from the nurses and doctors who take care of me here in Paris .’ And Mireille continued in a near-whisper : ‘ but come to see me tomorrow , we will speak about Mauritius , your son , and his wife … How are they ?’ I was unfortunately leaving for a trip on that very night . We decided to meet on the 1 st of September . She died on the 28 th of August .

Mireille Darc was one of the most famous French artists . Among the impressive number of movies in which she starred , at least ten are now classics . Most have been directed by Georges Lautner , such as ‘ Le grand blond avec une chaussure noire ’ in which her famous revealing black dress made Pierre Richard blush , ‘ Les seins de glace ’ with Alain Delon who will share fifteen years of her life , and this film , the title of which will give her the affectionate nickname , ‘ La grande sauterelle ’. We also often remember ‘ Pouic Pouic ’, the comedy by Jean Girault in which she starred with Louis de Funès .

Fifteen days after she passed away at the age of 79 , her husband ,

Pascal Desprez , continued the conversation in her stead . He told me how a warm and intimate relationship had developed between Mireille and Mauritius . ‘ She would impatiently wait for August so that she could go back to Royal Palm in Grand Bay and meet the team there , it was her home . The “ historic ” director Jean Pierre Chaumard had become a great friend , and so had his successor , Jacques Silvan .’

Mireille had confided in me that her love for Mauritius was linked to this particular hotel which she considered as the most beautiful luxury hotel in the world , of course , due to its sumptuousness and exquisiteness , which turned it into a mythical location , but also because of the warm welcome , the charming beach and restaurants , the tranquillity of the rooms and the villas . ‘ We always used the same suite , says Pascal , the one at the very end of the beach on the first floor , just before the big villa . There , in her universe facing the bay , Mimi liked to rest , read and write under the veranda .’

She was always working , on her documentaries or by replying to mails . A harmonious timetable was built around her time on the veranda : sports in the morning , yoga , veranda , meditation , lunch , nap , veranda , stroll on the beach then , before dinner , sunset … viewed from the veranda . And always in summer ! … That is summer for Parisians . The favourite time of Mireille who could not cope with high temperatures and enjoyed the cooler evenings of August , the warm rain … and lack of mosquitoes . ‘ Mimi was very chic , always elegant , says Pascal , so she soon decided not to wear swimming suits on the beach , she would stroll in a robe or a light dress that was always white . She never wavered . She enjoyed being beautiful . She was beautiful . And she stayed beautiful until the very end .’

Three years ago , the Royal Palm could not welcome the couple because it was undergoing renovation works . Some Mauritian friends then helped them to rent a bungalow at the very edge of Pointe aux Canonniers . Mireille had told me how much she had enjoyed visiting the region , shopping in the village , chatting with the baker and the grocer in Mont Choisy or visiting the gallery of Hélène de Senneville .

She would renew this contact with Mauritians every Sunday and on 15 August each year in the small white and red church in Cap Malheureux where she would enjoy watching birds attending mass . Mireille was a woman of faith . It is with great emotion that her husband speaks to me of Jacques Harel , ‘ a great man and a very pious one , I know that he dedicated a mass in Mimi ’ s honour in August ’.

One day in Paris , when , together with Pascal , she was visiting an exhibition by the renowned photograph Sebastião Salgado at Polka Galerie , she confided in my wife Brigitte – a journalist who ’ s fond of travelling and also loves Mauritius – that we were very lucky to have a son and daughter-in-law who lived in this paradise . She is right . Mireille will not return to her island . But her new residence is forever Paradise .