Review: Alcarras is an immersive drama about a farming family.

From deep within a farm in Catalonia where peaches grow in abundance, there is little to see of the outside world, but it does make its presence felt in this intergenerational family drama. There are festivals in town and there are clubs and bars to visit but the lives of a rural family are on the cusp of major change.

Alcarras is a tale from writer-director Carla Simon of traditional farming life under threat. As it is inspired by the filmmaker's own intimate experience as she was growing up, it is no surprise that the film conveys a powerful sense of intimacy and authenticity. Getting to know her story's well-defined characters feels rather like becoming part of the family itself, taking a seat at the kitchen table, participating in a communal bath time, hearing the family squabbles, or working alongside them as they bring in the harvest.

It makes for powerful empathy at a time when the family has testing challenges ahead. Quimet (Jordi Pujol Dolcet), a grumpy hothead frustrated by the deal that circumstance has dealt him, makes life difficult for himself and for his wife Dolors (Anna Otin) and their teenage son, Roger (Albert Bosch), making unreasonable demands of them both.

What's more, it's become apparent that the farming land that Quimet rents, the land that he is teaching his son to take over after him, will be soon lost to his family. They can keep the farmhouse, but the extensive fruit orchard will returned to its owner, a neighbour who is keen to cut down all the trees and replace them with a vast solar panel array. As his sister and brother-in-law are inclined to accept the landowner's offer regarding renewables rather than hang on to their orchards, their relationship with Quimet begins to fray too.

A long-ago verbal contract that elderly patriarch, Rogelio (Josep Abad), made with the neighbouring family is not recognised by the new generation of owners. If nothing was signed, it means there was no contract, they say. Nor do they recognise any debt they might owe Rogelio who offered their family sanctuary during wartime.

Although it appears he once made a fundamental error, Rogelio is calm, quiet and in tune with his grandchildren, the antithesis of his irascible son Quimet. Mooching around, cycling into town, cuddling the kids, always dressed in a neat and colourful, casual shirt, he is the film's dignified, gentle and exemplary centre.

The freedom that his young grandchildren have to roam free around the property is amazing. Though there is a hint of inherent danger, such as when they play inside an abandoned old Citroen Deux Chevaux, that never quite materialises - except for the time one of the twins gets stranded in the scoop of a tractor. The world in which little Iris (Ainet Jounou) and her twin cousins Pere and Pau (Joel and Isaac Rovira) play is reminiscent of Simon's impressive Summer 1993, a delicate and expressive representation of the world of childhood imagination.

Despite some distressing moments in the tale that Simon and co-writer Arnau Vilaro tell, Alcarras is a joy to watch. It has a terrific ensemble cast of non-professional actors from the region - apparently only Berta Pipo, playing Gloria, Quimet's sister, is a professional actor.

The director's flair for creating a fluid natural style, closely akin to documentary, makes for nuance and sensitivity in this portrait of ordinary people at a critical point in their lives. From beginning to end, from the rumble of heavy equipment that signals an encroaching outside world in the scenes that top and tail the narrative, this is an impressively subtle and immersive film.

Without the self-referential posturing that characterises many of today's films, and throwing all its resources into the telling of a simple tale, Alcarras is an impressive piece. There have been some outstanding films like In the Name of the Land that document the impact of big agricultural business on family farming businesses in Europe. Alcarras, winner of the top prize at last year's Berlin Film Festival, is the latest.