C'était hier

Lucens, in French-speaking Switzerland; summer of 1937. Spectators are lined up along the village streets waiting for the cyclists to pass through: the Tour de Suisse bicycle race. Those who were children at the time recall the days, and as they tell their tales, their whole working class community comes back to my mind, for as a child I used to be a guest at the bourgeois house of my grandfather, who once owned a gemstone factory here.
Parallel to the stages of the 1937 Tour de Suisse run the personal histories of Blanche, Charlie-Rose, Violette, Pierre, René, and the others. Poverty and misfortune may have ruled many of their childhoods, yet they have retained the memory of brief moments of happiness, which they shared with each other. And while some of them were lucky enough to find work they loved, others had to brave the full hardships of a working class life, finding dignity in fighting for improved conditions and decent wages. Both, the shame and the sensitivity of these testimonies are highlighted by pictures found in hitherto overlooked archives. Along them we trace the lines of the disorders, the crises, and the progress of History through time.