Fractured

摘要

WITH its shuttered facades, narrow streets and shaded main square, this small southern town has a certain Provencal charm. It boasts a twice-weekly market, two well-equipped sports halls, a public library and a narrow strip of beach. Yet an intangible air of disappointment hangs over Cogolin. Its poverty rate is well above the national average. Unemployment, at 18%, is nearly twice that of France as a whole. Many of those with jobs belong to the army of workers who repaint, clean, mow and cook at the villas and yachts of nearby Saint-Tropez. In 2014 the town elected a mayor from the xenophobic National Front (fn) with 53% of the vote.