Ah, comparing France of 30 years ago with US today. Reality: France has changed. I mean, this model hasn't totally died, but it's in it's last spasms.
But they closed the school a few years ago, and everyone has to drive to a big burg.
Of course I get what he meant, and everyone has a different definition of 'small' and of 'village'. Personally, I'd says shops start from 'big village' and post-offices from 'small burgs'. But you can have quite many neighbouring country municipalities in a row which do not have any shop.
-----
Yeah, in the last 30 years, the spread has been terrible, and it is not contained to suburbs of cities and big towns, but it also affects remote areas, around small burgs and even many villages. What we have then is suburbs without the 'urb'; perhaps even more depressing to witness than actual suburbs.
The spasms I see are good ones in my book. Yes, that will be bumpy soonish. But I see life there as many fold more agreeable than in rural US ( that I only now superficially; one short decade )
But that’s only me; and I’m culturally very French so no surprise in my preferences either