THE GUARDIANS (LES GARDIENNES) |
CREST THEATRE In French with English subtitles. REVIEWS A sober, quietly affecting wartime drama. Jordan Mintzer - Hollywood Reporter A genuinely astounding piece of filmmaking which is as beautiful as it is essential. Linda Marric - HeyUGuys As soon as he focuses his camera on the character of Francine, incarnated by Iris Bry (...) Beauvois finds his subject, and his film, under the double sponsorship of Pialat and Truffaut. Nicolas Schaller - Le Nouvel Observateur With "The Guardians", Xavier Beauvois reveals the realities of a century ago, but also looks at our current times right in the eye. Olivier de Bruyn - Marianne A film, both austere and dense, that pays a vibrant tribute to the courage of women during the war. Claire Picard - Télé Loisirs This is a picture which embraces the gentle rhythms of a simple lifestyle, set against a backdrop of fundamental and permanent change. Wendy Ide - Screen International
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An engaging human drama of love, loss, resilience, and emancipation unfolds against the backdrop of World War I. 1915. The women of the Paridier farm, under the deft hand of the family’s matriarch, Hortense (Nathalie Baye), must grapple with the workload while the men, including two sons, are away at war. Their life follows the rhythms of difficult labor and the occasional return of the men on leave. Working relentlessly, the women are guarding the land and preserving the family for the men. To help with the upcoming harvest, Hortense reluctantly brings on an outsider, the hard-working orphan, Francine (newcomer Iris Bry). At the Paridier farm, Francine believes she has finally found a family. The film starts as a graceful portrait of women working shoulder-to-shoulder, but, despite this false closeness created by the war, bosses and employees must remain in their place... Acclaimed filmmaker Xavier Beauvois (Of Gods and Men, The Young Lieutenant - SFFF Audience Prize 2006) revels in the mysteries and beauties of the French countryside, here unravaged by war, with painterly images bathed in natural light, yet keeps his focus on the intricate drama that plays out against the upheaval of the Great War. The film unites real-life mother-daughter Nathalie Baye and Laura Smet on-screen for the first time. Based on the 1924 novel by Ernest Pérochon, The Guardians was nominated for four 2018 César Awards. Shown with WHEN I REPLACED CAMILLE (Quand j'ai remplacé Camille) by Rémy Clarke, Leïla Courtillon, Nathan Otaño CREST THEATRE |
