Profils paysans: le quotidien (2005)
Directed by Raymond Depardon

Film Review

The second instalment of Raymond Depardon's remarkable three-part documentary Profils paysans picks up where the first left off, with the funeral of an octogenarian farmer who will be sorely missed by his community.  It is a sobering beginning to the film as it develops the main theme of the trilogy: the likelihood of the old farming methods being transmitted from one generation to the next.  In Profils paysans, chapitre 1 : l'approche, the overall mood was pessimistic.  Most of the farmers Depardon interviewed were well past sixty and the majority of these seemed to hold the view that their's was a dying way of life.  External pressures (tighter regulation from the EU and increasing competition from the large agricultural companies) have meant that it is becoming increasingly difficult to scrape by as an independent farmer, and it is easy to see why so few young people consider farming as a serious career option.

In this second film the mood is slightly more upbeat.  Depardon brings into the picture several young men and women who look as if they are determined to make a go of farming in the old way, buying or renting small scraps of land to start goat or specialist stud farms.  It's clear almost from the moment they first open their mouths in front of Depardon's all-seeing static camera that these enterprising youngsters have a somewhat rosy few of farming and are setting themselves up for a fall.  Sure enough, when Depardon returns to one young farmer to see how she is coping the signs are far from encouraging.  This leads neatly into the third part of the documentary, La Vie modern (2008), which offers few grains of comfort and expresses the view that old-fashioned (non-intensive) farming has definitely had its day.

Midway through the film there is a discussion (between an old farmer and a young wannabe farmer) that pre-empts this sombre conclusion.  Both agree that traditional farming is an industry that is in a state of irreversble decline; the day is not far off when food production will be entirely in the hands of the big profit-hungry agro-corporations.  By that time, much of the rural landscape will have changed forever, to become a theme park for urban day-trippers or a retirement haven for the affluent - assuming, that is, it doesn't end up being consumed by urban sprawl.  Somewhat cheekily, Depardon pays a call on the new owner of the farm that belonged to the recently deceased old farmer who featured so prominently in the first part of the documentary.  Surprise, surprise, he is not a farmer, but a musician.  Where cows were once milked and calved, almost as a sacred ritual by weather-hardened farmers perpetuating traditions that go back centuries, orchestras will now rehearse recitals for the amusement of the educated elite in the cities.

After this cynical (but justified) detour, Profils paysans: le quotidien ends on a more positive note by presenting another fragile shard of hope.  Depardon has a friendly conversation with a young farmer who, after years of solitude on his remote farm, has decided to get married.  Through the personal ads, he has made contact with a woman in another part of France who has agreed to come and live with him.  As the young farmer tidies his barn there is a noticeable spring in his step, and like him we can easily kid ourselves that things are perhaps not so grim after all.  It is an illusion that Depardon effectively kicks the stuffing out of in the concluding part of his documentary.

Film Synopsis

In 2002, the journalist and filmmaker Raymond Depardon returns to the small farms he visited a few years earlier in Lozère, Ardèche and Haute-Loire, continuing his personal portrait of traditional farmers who are struggling to eke out an existence at the start of the third millennium.  The pressures of globalisation, combined with the alternative of an easier life in the city, have made this kind of small-scale farming an unattractive career option for today's young adults.  The older farmers, many in their eighties, continue with the old ways, some understandably bitter about the way the world is going.  There are a few young people who appear keen to pick up the baton and continue the old traditions, but do they have the same level of commitment and resilience as their predecessors?