Farrebique, or the Four Seasons

THE FOUR SEASONS

The making of this picture lasted a whole year.

It was made

in the farm of an old peasant family.

Grandpa.

Grandma.

Roch, the eldest son.

Berthe, his wife.

Their children: Maria,

Simone,

Raymondou

and Yvetou.

Roch 's brother, Henri.

Aunt Marie.

Fabre, a neighbor.

Fabrette, his daughter.

And the farm, Farrebique.

We could patch the wall.

You think so?

All this patching is useless.

We'll have to rebuild the house.

Maybe, but later!

There's no time to argue now.

Give me my bag.

Hurry! You'll be late.

Don't forget auntie's bag.

Tell auntie I'll be seeing her today.

Got my bag?

How are you, children?

- Grandpa is coming today. - Well?

See you later.

Well?

- It's the farm. - What?

You know Roch.

He seems to have made up his mind. You have to work on him.

Is he such a stupid creature?

I've always let him have his way.

Since his marriage, he believes he's master of the farm.

But I'm still alive!

I've been thinking.

Now that there's not much work,

you should get some stone and wood.

Henri will help.

And then,

Roch will have to do the same.

I'll talk to him.

Good morning, Henri.

- It's a beautiful clay. - Yes. Not at all cold.

- Where are you going? - To Goutrens.

Has your father still not decided about the electricity?

It's none of my business.

Goodbye.

Here's the soup.

Well? Do we build the new house?

We've managed without until now.

I've worked very hard but I'm getting tired now.

What do you say?

It won't cost so much.

I'll prepare the stone.

You won't pay the mason.

Why should I? Farrebique will never be mine.

You don't want to do the house.

I'll need money to buy back your share.

We'll speak about it later.

I'll have to pay

- for the tiles, lime... - That'll do.

You know there's not enough room here.

Tell your father

that you can't live in that old house.

We want him to build a new one,

and we'll all help him.

We could add two more rooms at the back.

That's what I thought.

It means a lot of work and worry.

I have to go

and bake the bread.

I'll carry this one.

Be careful. You'll fall.

I told you so!

Did you hurt yourself?

You should take care.

Help me with my lessons.

Two eights are sixteen, three eights are twenty-four...

- You don't know it. - I do!

5 times 8 isn't 45.

You haven't learned it yet.

Who knows when we'll build this house!

You're 40 years old and you've built nothing yet!

That lamp's not on.

Oil lamps!

When will we have electricity?

Fabre has to share the cost.

He wants us to do it by ourselves

so he doesn't have to pay.

The house, the light, it'll cost a lot!

And the oil? That's costly, too.

Don't worry,

Fabre will agree one clay.

Can't you talk to him?

To him?

It's not my business.

We have to think of the house first. It's so old.

Is the house really so old?

Much older than I am.

It was my mother's mother,

my grandmother, who started it.

There was just a little hut here,

already called Farrebique.

This is the old fire-place.

The work was very hard.

It was quite a battle.

They had to plow,

sow,

hoe,

reap,

thresh...

Little by little, Farrebique grew.

More fields were bought,

meadows, land,

chestnut groves... woods.

Another floor was added to the house.

My father built the old barn.

Later, I added to it

when I was 25.

At the age of 33, I rebuilt the barn.

I bought Bernard's fields.

Another chestnut grove, some pastures,

and the Cassagnes vineyard.

And I've forgotten the rest.

I added a new room behind the chimney,

another room in the old barn

and the shed.

Years went by.

We're old now.

This house has seen many births.

Many weddings.

Many deaths and departures.

My brother Auguste lives near Avignon.

My sister Eugenie married

and is now near Rodez.

My sister Marie

has a small shop.

Albert, the youngest,

went to Montpellier,

married and had a little boy.

And he went off...

to war.

He never returned.

He's the one who built that tiny place in the valley.

After my father died, Farrebique was mine.

It always comes to the eldest son.

My children went away.

Maria and Marie to a convent.

Juliette married and went to Villefranche.

One clay Henri too will marry.

It's Roch who will stay.

When shall we get our share?

In clue time.

When the girls marry,

you, Raymondou, will inherit the farm.

Remember,

always work hard

to make Farrebique the best farm round here.

Bedtime, Yvetou.

The rest of you, too.

Didn't you hear me?

Why such a talk tonight?

Because we're getting old.

We'll build the new farm at the end of the summer.

It's decided!

I'll say our prayers.

We'll never have the money for their shares.

The baby you're expecting will stop you working.

You shouldn't have made it!

Don't be stupid!

You'll wake the children.

The deadness of winter has passed away.

Things start to grow.

The earth is awakening from a long sleep.