Questions

Louise lived in that farm as Jean-Pierre, before killing his(her) bank proxy, going to jail, and change sex to get a job in the factory (textile industry employs only women). So it's sort of nostalgia.
The cremation scene - with the Internationale playing on the tape - introduces us to the atmosphere of the wrecks of old industrial France (sort of Sheffield in England' Full Monty).
This is my opinion, at least.
Great movie, anyway.

I wondered the same thing. The creamtion didn't seem to go anywhere. It got a big laugh at the screening I was in, but in retrospect it seemed like a skit to start of the show and so was a bit of a cheap laugh really. I didn't get the tractor bit but I just thought "oh she's crazy". I was also confused by lots of other things about the movie. I liked the lady who played Louise though, she was so cute, even though her character was a psycho man. It was so funny when her apartment block got demolished even though i think i have seen that scene before in something else.