As life goes by

Najac is a French village perched on a Rouergue mountaintop, between Auvergne and Occitanie, on the borders of three regions and three climates. A small group of neighbours or friends embodies Najac: the centenarian who breaks out in song whenever she is asked, the mad, slightly fatalistic mechanic repatriated from Indochina, the mayor alla Peppone*, the farmer’s son reconverted to organic farming, the woman who, disappointed in love, gladly consoles herself with a wee drink or two… Poetic, lyrical, surrealist, comical or pathetic, these thirteen characters make up a group portrait of a provincial village where nature is always close at hand and the seasons distinct. Woven from bits of everyday life and filmed unswervingly, As Life Goes By is a human epic in which time passes in slow motion, seen close up. This microcosm of mankind, observed through a magnifying glass, reveals all the richness of society. * one of the main characters in the five Don Camillo films made between 1951 and 1965.