"Farrebique" is a phenomenon.Nothing can be compared to it in the forties.Partly a documentary,partly a meditation on life and death ,partly a poetic celebration of the nature,which many critics compared to Flaherty's films,it has nothing to do with the other country stories of the time such as Becker's "Goupi Mains Rouges" or René Clément's "Jeux interdits" .The story of a family of peasants during a whole year,following the circle game of the seasons (An idea Bertolucci will make his in "Novecento" ).The dialog is barely comprehensible for those farmers speak patois which even a French person cannot understand :subtitles are not needed however,for there's no real plot.It shows the rural life in France just after WW2 as it was.Not a comfortable one;electricity is coming and it improves a bit their harsh live;the children go to school -but unfortunately,we do not see them at school-;religion plays a prominent part : a scene on the farm shows the whole family praying the Lord;another one takes place in the church where the whole congregation sings the Kyrie in Greek (!) then listens to the priest's Latin words.It's certain that catholicism has lost much of its prestige after the council of Vatican II .Rouquier waxes lyrical about Spring,which he depicts in a vivid style: speeded-up motions which make the buds burst ,trees coming into bloom,season of love for the animals,and on the farm a new baby born to carry on.In direct contrast to that ,with the coming of the Fall, the father 's death ...and the younger's son impending leaving for the town,for the " eldest boy's task is to follow his father's traces whereas the younger's is to move on and set up home somewhere else."Farrebique" -which was followed by "Biquefarre" ,some forty years later-in spite of its obsolete symbolism was something drastically new in the FRench cinema.