alr

Peasant Profile: The Approach
(Profils paysans: L’approche)

Directed by Raymond Depardon.
France, 2001, digital video, color, 90 min.
French with English subtitles.

The elderly rural population of France is slowly dwindling away and may completely disappear over the next few years. In one of his most personal works, celebrated French photographer and filmmaker Raymond Depardon closely observes the secluded, quiet life of a small village. He has known some of the people for years; others he befriends while filming. The specific village is of less interest to Depardon, however, than the rural world it represents: the silent meals, the monotonous work routine, the stoic waiting for an end that is near—all dispassionately captured by Depardon’s unerring eye.

Part of film series

Read more

Landscape and Desire: Reports from a Contested Planet

Current and upcoming film series

Read more

The Reincarnations of Delphine Seyrig

Read more

Rosine Mbakam, 2025 McMillan-Stewart Fellow

Read more

The Illusory Tableaux of Georges Méliès

Read more

Activism and Post-Activism. Korean Documentary Cinema, 1981-2022

Read more

Fables of the Reconstruction. Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias

Read more

Ben Rivers, Back to the Land

Read more

Harvard Undergraduate Cinematheque

Read more

Make Way for Tomorrow. Carson Lund’s Eephus

Read more

Jessica Sarah Rinland’s Collective Monologue