The first portion of Profils paysans, filmed in the South of France, invokes an urge for simplicity and natural beauty even as older farms turn into estates and agriculture turns into enterprise. The European Union's rules, while uprooting younger farmers and a few who have worked the land for generations, are mocked by many who wish to retain a traditional life. (Raymond Depardon, 2001, 35 mm, French with subtitles, 90 minutes)

In the sequel to L'approche, subjects of the earlier film return to reveal what has happened after the passing of several years. Depardon’s camera remains detached, and it becomes clear that his subjects could not survive an urban setting with its complicated etiquette. "I make a film in strokes. It’s not a case of taking on a single issue. For me, there is no message"—Raymond Depardon. (Raymond Depardon, 2005, 35 mm, French with subtitles, 80 minutes)

Depardon's latest film and final entry in his cycle Profils paysans is more pensive than sad as it chronicles, plainly and poetically, the disappearing French rural culture. Those who still inhabit the Cévennes in the South of France seem resolved to endure despite their loneliness, modernity's unrelenting thrust, and a sense that the young people have gone. (Raymond Depardon, 2008, 35 mm, French and Occitan with subtitles, 88 minutes)