Dir Xavier Beauvois (France 2017) 129 mins

With Natalie Baye, Laura Smet, Iris Bry

Here is a story of WW1 that does not often get told. The Guardians takes place on a farm in northern France in 1915. The men are away at the front, leaving all the work of running the farm to the women. Hortense (Baye) hires a young village girl (Bry) to help out but the relations on the home front are scarcely more amicable than they are on the Western one.

The Guardians is beautifully played and looks utterly stunning. Beauvois gained recognition for Of Gods and Men in 2010. This is equally unusual and gripping viewing.