ANTOINETTE IN THE CÉVENNES
***
Director: Caroline Vignal
Screenplay: Caroline Vignal. Inspired by Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes by Robert Louis Stevenson [1879].
Principal cast:
Laure Calamy
Benjamin Lavernhe
Olivia Côte
Marc Fraize
Jean-Pierre Martins
Louise Vidal
Country: France/Belgium
Classification: M
Runtime: 97 mins.
Australian release date: 8 April 2021
Writer/director Caroline Vignal’s comedy Antoinette In The Cévennes (originally titled My Donkey, My Lover & I) was one of the most popular films at the recent Alliance Française French Film Festival and was in the official selection at the 2020 Cannes International Film Festival. It marks Vignal’s return to directing after a 20-year absence, her last film being 2000’s Girlfriends. Explaining her reasons for wanting to direct again, she says, “It all started with my desire to film the Cévennes, where I spent a week walking with my family in 2010. I developed a huge love for these landscapes, for this wild region, very sparsely populated, and for the people - rural people for the most part - that we had met there… The light bulb went on when reading Robert Louis Stevenson’s travel story, which has inspired many hikers who now walk in his footsteps.”
Her script tells the story of the very exuberant Antoinette (played by Call My Agent’s Laure Calamy), a teacher having an affair with Vladimir (Benjamin Lavernhe of the Comédie-Française), the father of one of her students. She is looking forward to some leisure time with him during the up-coming school holidays, only to learn that it is not going to happen. It transpires that Vlad’s wife Eléonore (Olivia Côte) has organised a trekking trip for the family in the picturesque Cévennes region in southern France, walking some of ‘Stevenson’s Way’. Feeling left out, Antoinette decides to go on the trail too and heads off in pursuit of her lover. Upon arriving at her starting point, she hires a grey donkey called Patrick to accompany her on the trek. Patrick is not a willing participant in Antoinette’s plans, however, and is in fact downright obstinate, until Antoinette starts treating him more as a companion than a beast of burden.
The film takes us on a scenic journey that is worth every cent of the €870 the six-day trek costs Antoinette: the scenery is absolutely stunning, ravishingly captured by Simon Beaufils’ lens. Laure Calamy is terrific in her first leading role, ably holding the line between pathos and comedy as she ventures further into unknown territory, both mentally and physically. There are some laugh-out-loud moments as the inexperienced hiker tries to get Patrick to do her bidding. Every fellow traveller she meets en route is at first perplexed by her desire to travel solo, and then by her decision to attempt it with a donkey, but they almost all show support when she reveals that she is chasing her lover. How French! Are they being sympathetic to a woman spurned or are they merely curious to witness the result when Antoinette finally catches up with her heart’s desire?
Antoinette In The Cévennes was a big hit in France through a combination of rave reviews and positive word-of-mouth. It is billed in Australia with the tagline, ‘Finding yourself is the greatest adventure’ but that is something of a red herring because, seen through this reviewer’s eyes, Antoinette doesn’t really find herself at all; at her journey’s end, she still seems to only believe her life has validity when she is on the arm of a man, a theme that is carried through to the final frame. Although produced, directed and written by women, this is hardly a feminist manifesto. It does have charm, though, and Patrick is a scene-stealer.
Screenplay: Caroline Vignal. Inspired by Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes by Robert Louis Stevenson [1879].
Principal cast:
Laure Calamy
Benjamin Lavernhe
Olivia Côte
Marc Fraize
Jean-Pierre Martins
Louise Vidal
Country: France/Belgium
Classification: M
Runtime: 97 mins.
Australian release date: 8 April 2021
Writer/director Caroline Vignal’s comedy Antoinette In The Cévennes (originally titled My Donkey, My Lover & I) was one of the most popular films at the recent Alliance Française French Film Festival and was in the official selection at the 2020 Cannes International Film Festival. It marks Vignal’s return to directing after a 20-year absence, her last film being 2000’s Girlfriends. Explaining her reasons for wanting to direct again, she says, “It all started with my desire to film the Cévennes, where I spent a week walking with my family in 2010. I developed a huge love for these landscapes, for this wild region, very sparsely populated, and for the people - rural people for the most part - that we had met there… The light bulb went on when reading Robert Louis Stevenson’s travel story, which has inspired many hikers who now walk in his footsteps.”
Her script tells the story of the very exuberant Antoinette (played by Call My Agent’s Laure Calamy), a teacher having an affair with Vladimir (Benjamin Lavernhe of the Comédie-Française), the father of one of her students. She is looking forward to some leisure time with him during the up-coming school holidays, only to learn that it is not going to happen. It transpires that Vlad’s wife Eléonore (Olivia Côte) has organised a trekking trip for the family in the picturesque Cévennes region in southern France, walking some of ‘Stevenson’s Way’. Feeling left out, Antoinette decides to go on the trail too and heads off in pursuit of her lover. Upon arriving at her starting point, she hires a grey donkey called Patrick to accompany her on the trek. Patrick is not a willing participant in Antoinette’s plans, however, and is in fact downright obstinate, until Antoinette starts treating him more as a companion than a beast of burden.
The film takes us on a scenic journey that is worth every cent of the €870 the six-day trek costs Antoinette: the scenery is absolutely stunning, ravishingly captured by Simon Beaufils’ lens. Laure Calamy is terrific in her first leading role, ably holding the line between pathos and comedy as she ventures further into unknown territory, both mentally and physically. There are some laugh-out-loud moments as the inexperienced hiker tries to get Patrick to do her bidding. Every fellow traveller she meets en route is at first perplexed by her desire to travel solo, and then by her decision to attempt it with a donkey, but they almost all show support when she reveals that she is chasing her lover. How French! Are they being sympathetic to a woman spurned or are they merely curious to witness the result when Antoinette finally catches up with her heart’s desire?
Antoinette In The Cévennes was a big hit in France through a combination of rave reviews and positive word-of-mouth. It is billed in Australia with the tagline, ‘Finding yourself is the greatest adventure’ but that is something of a red herring because, seen through this reviewer’s eyes, Antoinette doesn’t really find herself at all; at her journey’s end, she still seems to only believe her life has validity when she is on the arm of a man, a theme that is carried through to the final frame. Although produced, directed and written by women, this is hardly a feminist manifesto. It does have charm, though, and Patrick is a scene-stealer.