Marc de La Ménardière was not merely the co-director of a documentary. He belonged to that much rarer category of people who strive to live their lives in accordance with their convictions.
Yet he had started out on a different path. A business school graduate, he had worked for Danone in New York, in a professional environment that seemed set to offer him the classic path to modern-day success. Then something had gone awry. An accident, questions about the state of the planet and our societies, and an increasingly strong sense that another way of life must be possible.
Together with his childhood friend Nathanaël Coste, he set off on the road. From this journey came *En Quête de Sens* in 2015, a remarkable documentary cobbled together far from the big production machines, somewhere between a road movie, a philosophical inquiry and an ecological awakening. Ultimately, the film poses a question of disarming simplicity: what if we were collectively mistaken about what really matters?
The film went on to reach a considerable audience. Marc de La Ménardière noted that an independent release, supported in particular by over 500 organisations, had enabled the documentary to reach around 200,000 viewers. It also went on to win several awards.
But perhaps the most interesting part begins after the credits.
For Marc did not merely make a film explaining that we should live differently. He tried to put it into practice. Together with his partner Malory Malmasson, he founded La Kambrousse, an eco-village in the Deux-Sèvres department, designed as a space for regeneration, experimentation and knowledge-sharing. He had also collaborated on the Oasis project run by the Colibris movement.
He had also appeared on television. Alongside Frédéric Lopez, on the France 2 programme *Mille et une vies*, he became a ‘scout’ for those men and women trying, sometimes on a modest scale, to bring about change in their communities: ecology, solidarity, self-sufficiency, social innovation and new ways of life.
Since the announcement of his passing, the tributes have all painted a picture of much the same man: a funny, curious, radiant person, capable of talking about spirituality without becoming heavy-handed, and above all free enough to question the social script that had been laid out for him.
Frédéric Lopez spoke of how much his humour, kindness and desire to make the world a better place had left a mark on him, describing him as one of the most inspiring people he had ever met. Raphaël de Casabianca, who had worked with him early in his career, also spoke of a man who knew how to send others on their way ‘with stars in their eyes and a thousand ideas in their heads’.
That is probably what we should take away from this.
At a time when everyone claims to have the answers, Marc de La Ménardière had chosen something far more interesting: asking questions.
What do we do with our time? Why do we work? What do we really need? What constitutes a successful life? How far are we prepared to change the way we live so that our convictions do not remain mere platitudes?
In Search of Meaning was, in fact, nothing like a manual. The film did not say: here’s how you should live. Rather, it said: look, reflect, question, engage with others, and then forge your own path.
This distinction is immense.
The passing of Marc de La Ménardière now makes the title of his film almost dizzying. A quest is never truly over. Some simply carry it on further than we do.
And perhaps there is a very simple way to pay tribute to Marc: watch *En Quête de Sens* again, then switch off the screen for a few minutes.
And ask ourselves, in turn, whether the life we are leading really resembles the one we want to live.
