Holy Cow, co-written and directed by Louise Courvoisier, is a lovely, involving coming-of-age story set in rural France.
Kisses Sweeter Than... Milk
by Alexa DalbyHoly Cow
4.0 out of 5.0 stars
CAUTION: Here be spoilers
Holy Cow. As well as being an expression of surprise (original French title Vingt Dieux! – Good God!), the title shows the important status dairy cows have in this remote, cheese-making, agricultural area of France – Jura.
Totone (Clément Favreau) is only 18, but at the start he’s carefree, already a hard-drinking party animal. That’s until his farmer father dies and he’s left alone to look after his 7-year-old sister Claire (Luna Garret). He tells a neighbour he has no family to help him.
He has to grow up fast: he finds a job as a cleaner on a neighbouring dairy farm, does the household chores and takes Claire to school on his moped. He’s endearingly determined, even when it means getting up to go to work at 4am after the night before or getting beaten up by the brothers where he works.
When he hears about the 30,000 euros cash prize that can be earned in a competition for making the local Comté cheese, he decides to go for it, so he can look after his sister. He teaches himself how to make cheese and has several attempts, helped by his old friends and little sister.
He realises that good milk is necessary for award-winning success. Not being able to afford to buy it, he has the idea of stealing it from the farm where he is working. This means he pretends to a relationship with the sexually eager girl Marie-Lise (Maïwene Barthelemy), who has inherited the farm from her parents, who chose her over her aggressive brothers. He distracts her while his friends steal milk – until he finally grows up.
The film is surprisingly fascinating as it shows the techniques and ins and outs of artisan cheese-making. By the end you feel you have learnt enough to do it yourself. It is rooted in several years’ knowledge of the region and made with non-professional actors and first-timer Favreau (apart from Barthélémy), who all cope very well with the demands made on them.
Holy Cow is heartfelt: the location, characters and attention to detail are wonderful. It does not examine the unconsciously misogynistic attitudes of that generation of young rural boys – though maybe that’s not the intention.
In Britain there used to be a body called The Children’s Film Foundation. It financed and made films where children were the central protagonists, and acted and resolved problems independently of adults. Although Totone is a bit too old at 18 to be in such a film, in some other respects, such as cheese-making, Holy Cow would fit the bill as a contemporary version.
Holy Cow premiered at Cannes in Un Certain Regard on 17 May 2024. It won the specially awarded Youth Prize and has won many others at film festivals. It is released by Conic on 11 April in the UK.
