Documentary
Farrebique, or the Four Seasons
Farrebique ou Les Quatre Saisons
Georges Rouquier · 1946
Synopsis
In Goutrens, in the Aveyron, a family of farmers lives through a whole year at the pace of the seasons. The grandfather, who hands out the bread each day, announces that the house, whose walls are cracking, must be repaired. The work follows one task after another, ploughing, baking bread, milking, month after month, while a birth is being prepared and electricity is soon to reach the farm.
Context
The director filmed in 1944 and 1945 at Goutrens, on the Farrebique farm, with the local inhabitants and his own family. Rejected by the official jury of the 1946 Cannes Film Festival, the film was shown on the fringes and was nonetheless awarded there by the critics; André Bazin came to its defence. Thirty-eight years later, Rouquier returned to the same places to shoot Biquefarre. A 2K restoration was presented at Cannes Classics in 2016.
Who it is for
An hour and a half, in black and white, with little dialogue, partly in dialect; between documentary and fiction.
Prizes and reception
Grand Prize of the International Critics at Cannes and Grand Prix of French Cinema in 1946; gold medal at Venice in 1948.
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