Shepherds

Following a medical wake-up call, Montréal copywriter Mathyas Lefebure (Félix-Antoine Duval) abandons his life in Canada to reinvent himself as a sheep herder in the French Alps. After a rough start, he’s joined by Élise (Solène Rigot), a civil servant tempted by his stories of pastoral life, and together they commit to a summer on the mountainside. Just the two of them. And one border collie. And 800 sheep.

After such films as Missing Victor Pellerin, Vital Signs, and Antigone (Best Canadian Feature, TIFF ’19), Shepherds feels like a levelling up in scope and complexity for director and co-writer Sophie Deraspe. It’s a naturalistic, beautiful adaptation of the real-life Lefebure’s 2006 book, clear-eyed about the messy and often brutal realities of a shepherding life while also allowing us to see the wondrous spectacle that draws people to work on the land.

Duval, most recently seen in Bruce LaBruce’s Saint-Narcisse, embodies Lefebure’s questing nature, working earnestly to gain the respect of his fellow bergers while also trying to find his own style. Rigot has her own quest as Élise, whose impulsive decision to join Mathyas proves to be as life-changing as it is fulfilling.

And while violence and death are an essential part of the natural world, Deraspe’s depictions of such things are respectful and even compassionate… though the closing disclaimer that no animals were harmed still comes as a relief.

NORM WILNER

Content advisory: simulated animal violence; sexual content, nudity, coarse language