Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Antoinette, a school teacher, is looking forward to her long planned summer holidays with her secret lover Vladimir, the father of one of her pupils. When learning that Vladimir cannot come because his wife organized a surprise trekking holiday in the Cévennes National Park with their daughter and a donkey to carry their load, Antoinette decides to follow their track, by herself, with Patrick, a protective donkey.
A charmingly idiosyncratic French comedy that stands out for its eccentric premise — a lovesick schoolteacher trekking the Cévennes with a donkey to stalk her married lover — which gives it a genuinely singular voice and conception rooted in Robert Louis Stevenson's 'Travels with a Donkey.' The Novelty is high because the film blends absurdist comedy, pastoral beauty, and bittersweet romance in a way that feels wholly its own. The Cévennes landscapes are capably shot but not especially distinguished cinematographically. The acting is solid and likable, particularly Laure Calamy's committed physical performance, without being exceptional. The plot is deliberately slight and episodic, serving the film's gentle picaresque mood rather than dramatic complexity. The ending is quietly satisfying but understated, consistent with the film's modest emotional ambitions.