Titled “France” in its English version, Les Habitants is the documentary work of an underground master, Raymond Depardon, a discreet shining French national gem. Depardon started as a photographer and journalist (of Pulitzer fame), a thing that might have contributed to the simple observational way in which he chooses to follow a subject and his stern persistence in developing long term projects (his trilogy of Profils paysans spans over almost a decade).
In Les Habitants he drives a caravan through under the radar, common French towns, and invites two people at a time to talk to each other. Gossip, money, love, the future or the past, hopes and fears. All through the most compassionate and humanistic regard. J’aime Raymond Depardon a lot.