La Vie Moderne

La Vie Moderne is a simple, empathetic and illuminating documentary about members of a rural community in the Haut-Garonne region of France. Depardon’s interviews, with farmers and their families, capture far more than what we see in many documentaries. Filmed in uninterrupted takes, the camera catches not just the subjects’ words but the silences and the small changes in facial expressions that reveal a more complex and ambiguous response beyond what is said. These snapshot portraits are interspersed with footage from a travelling camera that winds through the lanes between farms. These images create moments of fluidity and freedom within the film, as well as showing the beauty and peacefulness of the surrounding countryside. However, the overall picture that emerges is one of people struggling to adapt to a changing industry and a world that has moved on without them. La Vie Moderne is a eulogy to this lost way of life. [Gail Tolley]