Holy Cow review – a bittersweet treat

In rural France, 18-year-old Totone (Clément Faveau) spends his summer drinking and partying, but this idle routine is interrupted when the death of his father, a dairy farmer, leaves him responsible for his little sister Claire (Luna Garret). Desperate for money, the young scamp targets the €30,000 prize at a local cheesemaking competition.

This coming-of-age tale from debut writer/director Louise Courvoisier features its fair share of darkness, but it’s shot through with compassion and humour. The film is a testament to resilience in the face of hardship, and a hymn to the Jura region where Courvoisier herself grew up. Her images of the countryside ooze brightness and warmth, and the film takes care to authentically depict the community. The cast are local non-professionals, all doing very good work – Faveau, in particular, is a revelation.

We see the birth of a calf play out in real time. And, most significantly, there are detailed scenes showing the making of the region’s Comté cheese, a maturing process which offers a neat parallel to our protagonist’s own development. The film’s most moving moments are near-wordless scenes of Totone caring for Claire, getting her dressed and taking her to school. He’s not very good at it, but he improves; in life as in cheesemaking, patience is key and practice makes perfect.