Farrebique

Shot between 1944 and '46 in the Aveyrand area of the rugged Massif Central, this documentary milestone called on three generations of a peasant family to act out their lives for the camera. It charts cycles of birth, death and work, and records the coming of electrification. The protagonists sometimes appear slightly stiff (to modern eyes), but there's compact storytelling in the way Rouquier binds our sympathies to their on-going grind, and an exquisite moment of lyricism (despite the superfluous voice-over) when stop-motion photography catches the turn of the seasons.