La douceur du village (1964)
Directed by François Reichenbach
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Synopsis by Kristie Hassen
Conceived and directed by Francois Reichenbach, this documentary looks at life in a small French village throughout the course of one year. Linking images and themes together with a schoolteacher's lessons to her young students, all kinds of issues are addressed from local laws to morality. Like most films -- whether shorts or features -- from Reichenbach, La Douseur Du Village/Village Sweetness contains a fair amount of irony and wit. Reichenbach is also responsible for the lensing with help from his assistant, Jean-Marc Ripert. Ripert would go on to photograph many films, including Fernando Arrabal's Viva La Muerte, an intensely graphic, surrealist film that became a cult favorite in New York during the early '70s.