MAIS

of DELOEUIL Christian

FRANCE, 1987, 00:09:00

Production : IF Productions
Genre : Documentary
Keyword : Environment, Society, Testimony, Work

Summary :
MAÏS is the portrait of three generations in a family of stockbreeders and graziers. The film shows how the experience of this family, who live in a small village in Aisne, is deeply rooted into the rhythm of the seasons, cattle life and machines. They are destined for farming just like the medieval « villain » was destined to work for his lord. Country life has obviously changed, everybody agrees on that. It has even become a cliché. Mechanization, television, shopping malls and entertainment have left their imprint on the way people live. This film tries to look deeper into that, not so much through the words of the people we meet, but through its viewpoint. A somehow oblique viewpoint, in order to seize what can’t be captured straightforwardly. A viewpoint that strongly draws inspiration from the art of framing. The film is also intensely tuned in to the sound environment, which is rendered through a complete transformation, based on disparate elements of the reality and life of these people. Although the editing gives a puzzle-like reading of the film, MAÏS is in no way a lighthearted documentary. It is rather rough and dry. Like the roughness of work in general and of the particular work that is described here.

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