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Profils Paysans 2: Le Quotidien (Profiles of Farmers 2: Daily Life)

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by Rosie Saunders
Daily Life is the second chapter from Gamma and Magnum photographer turned documentary filmmaker Raymond Depardon’s planned trilogy of films chronicling the lives of those making a living from the small farms in the low mountain valleys of Lozere, Ardeche and Haute-Loire. In this slow moving but beautifully framed documentary Depardon documents a dying way of life on family farms struggling to survive under pressure from the EU, giant farming conglomerates and disinterest from the younger generation.

The film opens with the Funeral of Louis Bresse, a character we have met previously in Depardon’s first instalment Profils Paysans 1: L’approche – (Profiles of Farmers: Getting Closer). This opening scene sets the melancholy and nostalgic mood of the film. Long static shots of the Bresse farm and three white haired farmers framed by dark blue mountains evidence Depardon’s highly toned skills of framing his characters within their environment. However symbolic this opening sequence, the film is not only a swansong for a dying way of life. What Depardon manages to emphasize are the moments of humour and vitality within what could otherwise be some rather depressing situations.

84-year-old Marcel Privat, half blind from glaucoma, herds his sheep and goats everyday and philosophises for Depardon who remains a constant presence behind the camera. The longhaired middle-aged Michel, whose cow shed connects directly to his kitchen, takes us on a shopping trip on tractor. Robert Maneval, whose battles with the authorities over the sale of his farm cause him to rant and rave, confesses ‘I was so stressed that I went mad, I could have done anything, killed someone’ showing that stress is not only the domain of the over-worked urbanite. Maneval’s larger than life character is a welcome attraction after a series of more gloomy exchanges.

The final section of Daily Life flits over the theme of relationships with hopes for the future arriving in the shape of a graduate from farming college in Lyon who wants to set up her own farm and raise a family. Finally we hear that a long-single farmer finds a partner through an internet dating agency. Daily life in rural France may include farming techniques centuries old and struggles with newer regulations but it also makes use of the modern in often surprising ways.
No Certificate
Dir: Raymond Depardon, 2006, France, 83 mins. Subtitles

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