Petit paysan (2017)

Directed by: Hubert Charuel | 90 minutes | drama | Actors: Swann Arlaud, Sara Giraudeau, Isabelle Candelier, Bouli Lanners, Valentin Lespinasse, Clément Bresson, Marc Barbé, Jean Charuel, India Hair, Julian Janeczko, Franc Bruneau, Jean Chauvelot, Géraldine Martineau, Jean-Paul Charuel, Sylvaine Charuel, Claude Le Pape

Pierre Chavanges, thirty years old and recently graduated from agricultural college, keeps dairy cows. His whole life revolves around his farm, his sister who works as a veterinarian and his parents, from whom he took over the farm. When the first signs of a (fictional) variant of mad cow disease appear in France, Pierre discovers that one of his animals is also infected. He cannot reconcile himself with the thought that he will lose his cows as a result and goes to great lengths to keep the animals out of the hands of the culling services.

‘Petit paysan’ is the feature film debut of the French director and farmer’s son Hubert Charuel. The epic was even filmed on the small dairy farm in northern France of his retired parents, a pair of whom also play a modest supporting role in the film. The print starts out as a fairly conventional art house film and initially ripples along quietly. We follow Pierre in his daily and normal activities such as milking the cows, keeping the administration or cleaning the stables.

As the film progresses and the danger of the contagious cow disease becomes tangible and visible, ‘Petit paysan’ quickly becomes darker and more intense. Due to the problem of cattle disease and the deep-rooted affection he feels for his cows, Pierre becomes increasingly alienated from his environment. What starts as a subtle drama, becomes a partly surreal exercise (a good example is the scene in which Pierre sits on the couch with a calf on his lap to hide the animal from the authorities) that occasionally even adopts some thriller elements. That approach works, especially because of Swann Arlaud’s strong playing. He portrays Pierre as a soul that is as good-hearted as it is tormented, a characterization that especially comes to life when, accompanied by ominously swelling music and aided by intense close-ups, he is confronted with his sick animals. The cows are not humanized, but shown as vulnerable animals that are playthings of forces (animal diseases, humans and the commercialization of livestock farming) over which they themselves have no influence. Precisely because of the close relationship that the cows have with Pierre, the suffering that the animals have to endure hits the viewer extra hard.

‘Petit paysan’ can be seen as an artistic indictment of modern animal husbandry. The place of small and naturalist farmers like Pierre, who have a bond with the land and their animals, has in many places now been largely taken by cattle and dairy factories that have efficiency and profit maximization as their basic principles. That is why it is so easy to decide to preventively culling thousands of animals if there is even the slightest chance of a disease outbreak. In such a climate, animals are reduced to economic objects, a fact that only increases the urgency of a film like ‘Petit paysan’.

The strong message, in combination with excellent acting and camera work, ensures that ‘Petit paysan’ is a film that far exceeds the average. Some less interesting scenes are drawn out a bit too long, but nevertheless this film by Hubert Charuel is good for a big pass.