Secteur 545

In the Caux region, Sector 545 denotes the boundaries within which Pierre Creton carries out his job as a milk quality controller for those cattle farmers who request his services. During his regular visits, Pierre Creton strikes up friendships and dares to ask some questions, especially the following: between man and animal, what’s the difference? Once over their initial surprise, the farmers join in  his game.

“When I answered a job advert in L’union Agricole, little did I know I was going to find material for a film… I was getting to know a little about cows. I’d learnt to milk them by hand with Annick and Philippe Olivier, who were the main characters in Terriens, which had led to my meeting Ariane Doublet. I had a cow myself and had just been hired as a replacement cowman. So, there I was, a milk quality controller… The encounters with the cattle farmers went very well for the most part… I discovered a whole society. On the one hand, the cows as a herd and, on the other, the farmers as a community. And then came the desire to film them. I began to see and understand that my new work environment would be the subject of a new film. All these figures, it was interesting. I had another vision of the farming world, more objective, can you say that?” Pierre Creton (Cultiver, habiter, filmer, conversations de Pierre Creton avec Cyril Neyrat, éditions Independencia, 2010)