Shepherds (Bergers) directed by Sophie Deraspe is a lyrical drama based on Mathyas Lefebure’s book about rejecting his previous life in Quebed and learning to be a shepherd in Provence.
Country Life
by Alexa DalbyShepherds
CAUTION: Here be spoilers
Canadian Mathyas (Félix-Antoine Duval) gives up his life as a copywriter in Quebec because he wants to learn to be a shepherd in sun-kissed Provence – and to write a book, which was eventually published as D’où viens-tu, berger?. He knows nothing but seeks farmers (breeders) willing to take a chance on him as an apprentice. At first the rough, peasant farmers mock him. They think he’s naive but they like him. But finding his third job as an apprentice, he has learnt enough to be taken on (with a female companion [Solène Rigot] to herd the owner’s flock of sheep up a mountain and live there with them for the summer.
The mountains are green and beautiful and the scenery is wonderful. The pair lead an idyllic, back-to-nature life in glorious isolation with the sheep until the weather turns into autumn.
Bergers looks beautiful. We see the ups and downs of Mathyas’s life in France, though we don’t know if it will turn out to be permanent or temporary. The film is a sunlit window into an almost-forgotten way of life that is changing, even in the depths of the country and it’s a memory of what used to be.
Shepherds premiered at TIFF2024 on 6 September 2024. International representation is by The PR Factory.
