Normandie nue (2018)

In Le Mêle-sur-Sarthe, a small Norman village (sic), the agricultural crisis is hitting farmers hard. Exhausted and ruined, they are looking for ideas to draw attention to their dying profession. They organize a protest and a roadblock on the RN12 near Mortagne-au-Perche. An American art photographer specializing in nudes, Blake Newman, is searching for the perfect place to create his next photographic work when the protest leaves him stuck. After meeting Newman, Georges Balbuzard, a farmer and the town’s mayor, decides to create a media sensation to help his fellow farmers: Balbuzard hires Newman to photograph the villagers naked, since they are already professionally exposed. But the Normans are reluctant to undress, especially the village butcher, who knows that all the men would very much like to see his wife Gisèle naked. She is a former Miss Calvados. Against a backdrop of age-old family feuds and widespread modesty, will the modern art photograph, featuring nudes in the middle of the Champ Chollet, and the political media buzz really happen? Newman is growing impatient, as the sun’s angle will soon become unfavorable and the extras are taking their time getting there.