Film Review: The Guardians

Director: Xavier Beauvois 

Starring: Laura Smet, Nathalie Baye, Iris Bry

Running time: 135 mins

The Guardians primarily explores the lives of three women from the agricultural community left to fend for themselves on their farm while the men battle at the front in World War One.  The narrative is based on Ernest Perechon’s 1924 novel Les Guardiennes who himself was a World War I veteran and who in 1940 refused to collaborate with the Vichy regime. The film script was co-written by the director himself and Marie-Julie Maille.

Beauvois chooses minimal referencing to actual the war his focus instead centring on the women left at home and their community exploring how war affects them.  The film opens with ubiquitous shots of dead soldiers littering the battlefield and serves as a reminder that war serves as a backdrop to this film. War’s consequences are shown to alter all of the female characters in some way.  Members of their family are fighting at the front, local men are killed, their community is directly affected, how can their outlooks on life not be challenged and re-shaped? However, initially the film concentrates on the women’s primary purpose which is to tend and preserve the land in the absence of the men and await their return. Beauvois highlights the disconnect and misunderstanding between those left at home, patriotically unquestioning, and those who have witnessed the battle front; the school children proudly parrot an anti-German song whereas Clovis, the soldier, makes the statement that the Germans are ‘just like us.’

The women are all different, highlighted by their various ages, representing three different generations. This age variance takes on significance towards the end of the film when Beauvois explores the women’s various methods of dealing with post-war world.  Initially, the women work harmoniously cultivating and conquering the land. They are shown to be hardworking and purposeful exhibiting grit and determination. Indeed, this idyllic existence extends to friendship with Francine, the outside, as acknowledgement of her loyalty and diligence.

Hortense (the matriarchal figurehead) initially warrants our admiration. She is strong, she is purposeful and her purpose is to maintain the status quo and preserve the farm for future generations. She cannot brook change.  Hortense is an unquestioning patriot, she is accepting of her family fighting at the front and makes little protest. She does not, however, escape suffering, but this is in no way alters her resolve. In contrast, Solange, her daughter is seen to embrace progress as she enthusiastically introduces mechanisation to the farm. She doubts the war when her husband is captured and fleetingly acknowledges the possibilities of a world outside the farm when she acknowledges the presence of the outsiders, American soldiers. She is, however, brought back to heel by her mother thus securing the future of the farm.  The film concludes with a picture of Francine who is the only woman to have moved forward in her life embracing a new sense of modernism and independence on offer to women post war years.

The cinematography used in the film is exquisite;  it is used to control the pace and mood of the film and justice cannot be given in words; it is a lavish, visual experience with many different techniques effectively employed.  Close up camera shots focusing on the minutiae of the natural world such as tree buds, lichens and flowers suggest an understanding and symbiotic relationship with the land. We are presented with series of exquisite portraits of agricultural life with long shots of the women busy at harvest.  In contrast, close panning shots are used to highlight the mood, often anguish of the community.  

This film could have been pretentious and indeed tedious (in excess of two hours running time!) with this use of overworked cinematography, cliched themes and slow moving action, but it was none of these.  Instead, it was a glorious dive into the rural countryside of the past which resurrected the simplicity and hardships of agrarian life in France during World War I. 

Did you know? The Guardians was released on the day that French singer Johnny Halliday, who was previously married to actress Nathalie Baye and the father of Laura Smet, passed away.

The Guardians is screening at Broadway Cinema until Thursday 18 October