diff --git a/lisp/vc/vc.el b/lisp/vc/vc.el
index 3852a64550..8efd9fd560 100644
--- a/lisp/vc/vc.el
+++ b/lisp/vc/vc.el
@@ -2788,14 +2788,21 @@ vc-version-backup-file
 	  backup-file)))))
 
 (defun vc-revert-file (file)
-  "Revert FILE back to the repository working revision it was based on."
+  "Revert FILE back to the repository working revision it was based on.
+FILE can be a plain file or a directory, and in the latter case
+all files inside that directory will be reverted."
   (with-vc-properties
    (list file)
-   (let ((backup-file (vc-version-backup-file file)))
+   (let* ((dir (file-directory-p file))
+          (backup-file (unless dir (vc-version-backup-file file))))
      (when backup-file
        (copy-file backup-file file 'ok-if-already-exists)
        (vc-delete-automatic-version-backups file))
-     (vc-call revert file backup-file))
+     (vc-call-backend
+      (if dir
+          (vc-backend file)
+        (vc-responsible-backend file))
+      'revert file backup-file))
    `((vc-state . up-to-date)
      (vc-checkout-time . ,(file-attribute-modification-time
 			   (file-attributes file)))))