Felix is a shepherd. He leads a timeless life with his animals up there in the mountains of south-eastern France. A loner who agreed to be accompanied for several months by the director Louis Hanquet. “A Pastor” is his story. A magnificent and magnetic film. A timeless moment to enjoy without any moderation.
He is as handsome as he is taciturn. His hands have the harshness of the landscapes in which he lives and as his words are rare, She is valuable. He is Félix, a melancholic and secret young shepherd. He leads a life outside of time, of our time, but a life punctuated by the seasons, lambings and wolf attacks. Felix lives alone up there in the southeast mountains with the animals from the family herd that he raises with his father. From spring to autumn, he is alone with the herd which he cares for, feeds and guards in the forests. Félix made the choice, against his father’s advice, to continue pastoral activity.
A solitary, uncompromising life, followed for two years during the summer pastures by the director Louis Hanquet and his sound engineer Elton Rabineau.
Félix, the shepherd in the film by Louis Hanquet
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© Louis Hanquet
After seeing the film, I called its director. I wanted to know the story of this meeting on the summits between mountains and herd. Louis explains to me that his first idea was to make a film about wolves and the invisible damage caused to breeders. From encounters to locations, he meets Félix and his father Francis.
“I fell in love with Félix. It was love at first sight as a director. I was fascinated by his mystery…”
Louis Hanquet, director
Except that at first, Félix refuses. After nine months of repeated visits to father and son, after a 250 km transhumance, on foot of course, where Louis and Elton tour and get involved, Félix accepts: “He saw our commitment and our desire for this film, says Louis. From there, a deep mutual respect developed. Me for who he is and what he does and him for our commitment precisely.”
And it’s lucky for us that Félix accepted. And it’s lucky for us that it was filmed by Louis Hanquet. Felix, dark and silent, comes into his own as soon as he is in his element. Louis describes me “ the eloquent silences, the looks of the pastor and the choreography of his daily life. And when I tell him about the resolutely cinematic, western-leaning bias of this documentary film, Louis acquiesces: “I was raised in westerns! And I have always had this cinematographic desire to make a great adventure film. And it needed grandiose language to live up to what Félix experiences.”
Félix and director Louis Hanquet, during the filming of “A Pastor”
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© Elton Rabineau
“A pastor” is an invitation to contemplation, an invitation to travel, a moment outside of time. As if Félix authorized us to accompany him up there in his mountains under the respectful, modest and almost fraternal gaze of Louis Hanquet. Pastoral poetry with its sometimes cruel realities when the wolf comes to help himself in the flock, when an animal is sick, when it is cold…
“A Pastor” is Louis Hanquet’s first film. He received the National Documentary Grand Prize and the Original Music Prize at FIPADOC 2024 (international documentary film festival). It also received the grand prize at the 72nd Trento film festival in Italy and was selected in several prestigious festivals in France and abroad. (It is not recommended for children under 10 years old).
“Un pastor” by Louis Hanquet is a Little Big Story/France Télévisions co-production to be discovered on Thursday June 13 at 10:45 p.m. on France 3 Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and already on france.tv
