Farrebique - The Four Seasons

Between 1944 and 1946, actor-director Georges Rouquier employed the fictional realism of Robert Flaherty's to depict French farming life in the postwar period. Much of the film was clearly staged, in contrast to for instance the patient observations of Raymond Depardon's trilogy. Rouquier's style made waves, and film critics awarded the film their most important award at the inaugural Cannes Film Festival. Rouquier chose to focus on the village of Goutrens, in his home region Aveyron. Farrebique is the name of a farmstead that has been owned by the same family for generations. Now, quarrels about its inheritance by the eldest son stand in the way of a much-needed renovation. Rouquier attempts to show the similarities between the people and the land: the cracks in the walls, the rows of soil in the freshly ploughed fields, and the furrows on weathered faces. Over the course of four seasons, with rare time-lapse images, the camera creates a saga about people who would otherwise never have appeared onscreen. In spite of the critical acclaim with which the film was received, Rouquier didn't manage to make the sequel until 1983, only a few years before his death.