Georges Rouquier desired long ago to make a sequel to his remarkable 1947 film about French farm life, Farrebique (see November 6), but the box office failure of that critically acclaimed film kept backers away. 37 years later, with the support of three American professors, Rouquier obtained funds to produce Biquefarre, in which he catches up from where he left off in Farrebique. The same family of actors star in Biquefarre, but with a new set of problems; these range from the physical (the presence of poisonous pesticides) to the spiritual (the omnipresence of television) to the economic (the pressures of competition). Rouquier allows clips from the earlier film to provide continuity with life 37 years later. However, what is most fascinating for viewers of Farrebique is not the way that modernization trades mechanized milkers for old-fashioned fingers, but the way that subtle interactions between family members have and have not changed over these many years. If the men have softened (perhaps old Grandpère was the last of his tough breed), the women have yet to achieve their voice and strength. However, if the coming of the giant harvester to small farming has brought a certain alienation along with its benefits, the years that have taken the rough edges out of Rouquier's style have, happily, not diverted the director from his focus: New Republic reviewer Stanley Kaufman remarks on Biquefarre, “Rouquier understands farmers' hands.”