Final Rating: 4.5/5
Too often are dreams and ambitions mocked, and when they are romanticized they are done so in a childish or winking manner. In Shepherds (Bergers), directed by Sophie Deraspe, idealistic Mathyas longs to be a sheep herder that lives in the mountains and he is willing to sacrifice everything to make his dream come true.
Félix-Antoine Duval plays Mathyas, a Montreal ad man, who has up and left his life to move to France in the hopes of becoming a shepherd in Provence. Despite being sick of having to come up with jingles and slogans, he longs to write a novel about the connection between man and nature and living a pastoral life. Despite not having any farming experience, he buys himself a stack of books on the subject of sheep herding, a suitable hat and satchel and tries to ingratiate himself to the farming community.
A wrinkle is that Mathyas is now staying in France illegally as he does not possess a work visa and when he goes to a government office to apply for one. He is rejected as he needed to have applied for one in Canada and been approved before going to France. The bureaucratic clerk Élise (Solène Rigot) tells him if he wishes to become a farmer, to just do it under the table and he likely won’t be caught. The two immediately have a connection and become pen pal correspondents.
Despite most of the other shepherds rejecting his offer to train as an apprentice for free, eventually he gets work with the Telliers. Gérard Tellier (Bruno Raffaelli) has a bad back and can no longer do the hard work so his head herder needs to train an apprentice and he and his wife Agnes (Véronique Ruggia Saura) are willing to take a chance on such an inexperienced worker. Despite Mathyas struggling to learn the basic concepts of the job, like controlling the sheep or catching individual ones. Even with him flailing about and failing often, he remains committed to the process of becoming a shepherd.
Despite slowly learning the ropes of the lifestyle there are still many hardships to overcome. The days are long, from sunup to sun down (and sometimes even longer) with no days off. The career of a sheep farmer isn’t as lucrative as wool is being sold at an all time low, with farmers needing to pay people to take the leftovers. The work is hard and aggressive, and as Mathyas puts it in a letter to Élise, even the sun is violent.
Eventually things come to a head at the Tellier farm when Gérard becomes frustrated that the rented rams aren’t mating with his ewes causing him to explode in rage. This causes Mathyas to walk off the job, right when Élise has come to visit. The two of them eventually get hired by a much more mild mannered couple, as they get tasked with transporting a flock of over 800 sheep across the Alps, in what is a yearly job to lead the sheep to fertile grazing pastures. Élise has seen how Mathyas’ limited time shepherding has already changed his life and wants to have the same experience.
The two quickly learn the ropes of mountaineering while shepherding and form an intimate bond with their flock. At one point there is a violent thunderstorm that separates the duo and Mathyas returns the following day with Élise assuming he died as he breaks down in pride at how he didn’t lose a single sheep. They must contend with tough conditions and the constant threat of wolves potentially attacking the flock.
The film, which was shot in France, shows us the stunning pastoral life that Mathyas yearns for. He begins the film as a novice, with only a dream to write about being a shepherd and slowly becomes a master of his craft. We witness his ups and downs as he contends with not just admiring the flock of sheep, but becoming their “boss” as another shepherd scolds him for not understanding. The film isn’t saccharine like other underdog stories where you know eventually the hero will overcome any obstacles. You actually see Mathyas’ progress and despite knowing this likely won’t be a feel good story all the way through, you can’t help but root for him.
Once Élise comes into the picture and they team up, you no longer are just hoping Mathyas gets great material to write about, but that as a duo you want them to conquer the mountain and take control of their destinies. The chemistry between Félix-Antoine Duval and Solène Rigot is palpable and intoxicating. Their first interactions in the government building are cute and flirty before they become friends and then their lives and desires become so intertwined that the passion between them is overflowing.
Duval goes through such a transformation as a confident yet aspiring shepherd to a master of his field that when his biggest challenge comes at the climax, you can’t help but know that he very well is losing a part of his soul. A final shot of him is achingly beautiful in a way that you need everything leading up to it in order to land the desired outcome.
For a film about shepherding in the Alps, it is important that you make the film feel real. The cinematography by Vincent Gonneville (who ironically worked on an Oscar nominated short Brotherhood that is also about shepherds) is beyond stunning. Films are often labeled as romanticising its subject matter, but I don’t think I’ve ever watched a film where seeing Mathyas give up everything and move to France to do some of the hardest work imaginable and think, this might be my calling too.
The vistas of the Alps are a sight to behold, there is a scene where a government worker comes to check in on the grazing flock and ends up spending the night drinking with Mathyas and Élise, who drunkenly stumble up the hills and while laying in the grass, the camera does a reversed to show the sun just barely starting to crest over the ridgeline in an awe inspiring sunrise shot that is unforgettable.
The way the sheep were shot showcases the dedication that Duval and Rigot poured into their roles. While I assume there were plenty of animal wranglers on set at all times, Sophie Deraspe made sure to make the film look authentic with plenty of wide shots seeing only the mountain range, Mathyas, Élise, their sheep dog Hola and hundreds of live action sheep. We get a sequence of the sheep being shepherded through a town with onlookers watching from their homes and on the streets, as sheep envelop the roadways, making them look like water flowing around the vehicles who must wait for their passage.
This film is of epic proportions and should easily go down as a new Canadian classic. Learning at the end of the film in a title card epilogue that Mathyas continued to shepherd, wrote his book and in fact is a real person made me enjoy this film even more being a sneaky biopic. The narration that Duval speaks throughout the film felt like excerpts pulled from a book of poetry rather than some kind of guide adding to the romanticism. Deraspe’s previous film Antigone swept the Canadian awards circuit when it came out in 2019, including winning Best Picture at the Canadian Screen Awards, and she looks to have another tour de force on her hands.
Thank you to MAISON 4:3 and Route504 for the screener.
