Holy Cow: a charming 'micro-budget' film about Comté
First-time director Louise Courvoisier elicits 'brilliant performances' from her non-professional cast

This "micro-budget" film about "artisanal cheese making" in rural France could "charm anyone, even the most die-hard cheese hater", said Larushka Ivan-Zadeh in The Times. Set in a "hardscrabble farming community" in the Jura Mountains, it tells the story of 18-year-old Totone (Clément Favreau), whose carefree adolescence is brought to an abrupt close when his father dies, leaving him "penniless and responsible for his seven-year-old sister".
Despite "a total lack of expertise", he decides to enter a Comté-making contest in order to win the €30,000 prize. What follows is a story "immersed in rural, working-class culture" that is "vérité and honest without being bleak", and which avoids generic conventions while still giving us "a feel good ending that fully satisfies".
First-time director Louise Courvoisier elicits some "brilliant performances" from her non-professional cast, said Cath Clarke in The Guardian. Favreau ("a poultry farmer in real life") is "amazingly subtle" as the plucky Totone, while Maïwene Barthelemy is equally "terrific" as Marie-Lise, a worldlier teenage dairy farmer with whom he falls in love.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Courvoisier grew up in the Jura, and she takes care to depict local life authentically, said Alex Hopkins-McQuillan in Little White Lies. We see "the birth of a calf play out in real time" and some impressively "detailed scenes" showing the making of Comté – "a maturing process which offers a neat parallel to our protagonist's own development". The film is "a testament to resilience in the face of hardship", and though it has its share of darkness, it is shot through "with compassion and humour".
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Crossword: June 23, 2025
The Week's daily crossword
-
How far would Russia go for Iran?
Today's Big Question US air strikes represent an 'embarrassment, provocation and opportunity' all rolled into one for Vladimir Putin
-
Anshu Ahuja's golden coconut and butter bean curry recipe
The Week Recommends Plump, creamy beans in a sweet, spicy sauce
-
Grilled radicchio with caper and anchovy sauce recipe
The Week Recommends Smoky twist on classic Italian flavours is perfect to grill, drizzle and devour
-
Echo Valley: a 'twisty modern noir' starring Julianne Moore and Sydney Sweeney
The Week Recommends This tense thriller about a mother and daughter is 'American cinema for grown ups'
-
Larry Lamb shares his favourite books
The Week Recommends The actor picks works by Neil Sheehan, Annie Proulx and Émile Zola
-
Stereophonic: an 'extraordinary, electrifying odyssey'
The Week Recommends David Adjmi's Broadway hit about a 1970s rock band struggling to record their second album comes to the West End
-
Shifty: a 'kaleidoscopic' portrait of late 20th-century Britain
The Week Recommends Adam Curtis' 'wickedly funny' documentary charts the country's decline using archive footage
-
Lollipop: a single mother trapped in a 'hellish catch-22'
The Week Recommends Daisy May Hudson's moving debut feature is a gut puncher in the Ken Loach tradition
-
Marfa, Texas: Big skies, fine art, and great eating
Feature A cozy neighborhood spot, a James Beard semifinalists, and more
-
6 light-filled homes on the Jersey Shore
Feature Featuring a Victorian with a wraparound porch in Beach Haven and a condo with ocean views in Asbury Park