Où sont les moutons ? (Where Are the Sheep?)
Luché-Thouarsais, Deux-Sèvres. At 87, Gérard is the last person in the village still raising sheep. But age is catching up with him, and as getting older makes everything harder, he understands that it will have to stop.
His mischievous wife Marie-Josèphe and the 3 sisters, who live almost next door, close ranks, look for solutions and philosophise about the end that is coming: their own, and that of their way of life. At the same time, a little further away, their grandson and his family have taken up this farming tradition by starting a flock of their own. A happy, successful handing-down at the twilight of a life full of hard work, but also of wisdom.
These portraits of farming people speak to us about cultural heritage, and about what is passed down between generations who sometimes struggle to understand each other.
The film
Luché-Thouarsais, in the Deux-Sèvres, population 45. Gérard and Marie-Josèphe are Nicolas Fabas's grandparents. The film started at a family dinner at the end of the year, when his grandmother asked him, once again, what exactly he was doing with his theatre.
"Anyway, nobody cares about old farmers like us."
Marie-Josèphe, quoted in the note on the project's origins
Nicolas wanted to retrace his family's footsteps before it was too late, and to keep a record of a France whose roots are in the countryside and which has moved to the towns and cities. We filmed for several weeks: at the dining-room table over a coffee and a slice of cake, in the fields, in the garden. Marie-Josèphe, in cahoots with the camera, playful and cheeky. Gérard, quieter, who would rather work than talk, and whom everyone worries about. Madeleine, Jeanne and Odile, the three sisters, who live almost next door. The film looks at what this generation still has to teach us about the way we live, rather than watching it fade away in silence from a distance.
Credits
Documentary film, just under an hour, 2022. Concept: Nicolas Fabas. Co-directed by Nicolas Fabas and Victor Desmettre. Cinematography and sound: Victor Desmettre. Editing: Victor Desmettre and Nicolas Fabas. Colour grading: Victor Desmettre. Music: Benoit Capelle. Sound mix: Emmanuel Baudez. Production: La Compagnie Noutique, Béthune. Co-production: Pictanovo, with support from the Hauts-de-France Region, the Pas-de-Calais Department and the Communauté d'agglomération Béthune-Bruay-Artois-Lys-Romane. Released on DVD by L'Harmattan.
What the press said
"The face of a happy rural world: for their first film, Nicolas Fabas and Victor Desmettre have hit the mark with this idea of heritage and passing things on."
Fabien Gouault, Le Courrier de l'Ouest
"A reflection that gives a voice to the forgotten people of the countryside."
La Nouvelle République du Centre-Ouest
"No dull moments, because the cycles of nature and of social life punctuate the film with moving and funny highlights."
Chloé Poitau, Carac'Terres Agri 79
"It's filmed with tenderness, with carefully crafted images, and with the distance needed to capture moments of life without being intrusive."
Xavier Roche-Bayard, La Nouvelle République
Talking about the film
La Nouvelle République: the screening of the film at Les 400 Coups cinema in Châtellerault
La Nouvelle République: a full house for the film at the cinema in Loudun
La Nouvelle République: the shoot in Luché-Thouarsais
L'Harmattan: stream the film on the Harmathèque
