The Sower (Le Semeur)

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Following the coup d’état of December 2, 1851, President Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned Emperor Napoleon III, setting off a bloody campaign of repression to root out his opponents. In some regions, entire villages were cleared of their adult male population. Marine Francen’s ravishing first feature uses this historical context and the true story of a man who wandered into a village exclusively occupied by women to explore female desire, solidarity, and resilience, raising quietly radical philosophical and political questions. After all the men in a village in Provence have been killed or deported, young Violette convinces the other young women to agree that they will share any man to arrive among them. When a mysterious stranger does finally appear, all goes to plan—until it doesn’t.