The guardians

★★★★

Out 17 august / Cert 15 / 134 mins director Xavier Beauvois cast Nathalie Baye, Laura Smet, Iris Bry, Cyril Descours

LIFE ON the Great War home front is presented in all its backbreaking authenticity in this gruellingly engrossing adaptation of a 1924 ernest Pérochon novel. taking his visual cues from rustic art and cinema, Director Beauvois places the emphasis firmly on the daily grind, as hortense (Baye) hires orphan Francine (Bry) to help run her Limousin farm while her menfolk are away in the trenches. But, as in Of Gods And Men, Beauvois uses understatement to explore the impact of external pressures on an enclosed community. Consequently, he manages to produce a moving human drama that also explores themes of class, gender and provincialism with intimacy and integrity.