4 saisons d’Espigoule

In this ‘documentary’, not everything is equally true, but nothing is far removed from reality. In this portrait of a small hamlet with a population of 732 souls in the French Provence all the characters play themselves. Espigoule is a community where time has stood still. That means eternal loyalty to the village saint and a traditional division of responsibilities. Men go out hunting and women cook the game. During the annual folk festivities, there is a contest between the women to see who prepared the best jugged hare. And every year it remains to be seen how the citizens of Espigoule, from an age-old bandit people, will get on with the citizens of Pinchon, a village further down with no less than three thousand inhabitants and hence a town in the eyes of the Espigouliers, also because it has a police force and a supermarket. Philibert had long cherished the idea of making a film about his incredible birthplace, but it turned out to be more difficult than he thought. In order to get an authentic picture including the different accents, gestures and the sense of humour of the locals, he researched the project for ten years. With the aid of friends from his youth, he turned his village into a place that is too absurd to be true. Philibert: ‘This village exists; the inhabitants have the courage to look in the mirror, without hiding their faces, because they accept who they are. They are able to smile at themselves before they are laughed at.’