A war-scarred poacher hunts for freedom while the law hunts him.
In the French countryside at the beginning of the 20th century, Raboliot, who gets his name from looking like a burrowing rabbit, is a small-time poacher who loves and lives for freedom. Married with two children but traumatised by the war, it is only when he is out hunting at night that he feels really free and happy. But these escapades do not please the local policeman, Sommedieu, who is set on putting an end to them.
Cinematography
Mist-drenched night hunts that feel like forbidden rituals.
Acting
Thierry Frémont's wounded, wild-eyed obsession with liberty.
Director
Jean-Daniel Verhaeghe
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Raboliot is a French slang term for poacher, derived from 'rabouillot'—burrowing rabbit. The director insisted on authentic 1920s hunting techniques, no modern substitutes.
The film adapts Maurice Genevoix's 1922 novel, written by a WWI veteran who understood the hollow-eyed men who returned unable to fit peace. French critics called it 'cinema de territoire'—cinema of rooted place.
FR
