La Vache et le président (2000)
Directed by Philippe Muyl

Film Review

For all its naïve simplicity and heavily laden sentimentality, La Vache et le président is a film that you cannot help falling in love with.  Its simplistic child's eye point-of-view gives it a rare charm and humanity that locks onto the emotions and shows us the world in a new light, with less of the cynicism and pessimism that blights out familiar daily existence.

Director Philippe Muyl stated that he was inspired to make this film after he saw a photograph of American president Bill Clinton granting a stay of execution to a turkey before Thanks Giving one year.  After that, the idea of the French president in need of a bovine-oriented photo-opportunity isn't so far fetched.   Muyl uses this as a premise for a content-rich storyline in which he comments on the injustice meted out to farmers during the BSE crisis, man's ill-treatment of animals, the hypocrisy of French politicians and the insane bureaucracy that haunts every avenue of French life.  There's a great deal that gets said in this film, but it is largely a light and entertaining work, admittedly with a few minutes of drama and nail-biting dramatic tension.

True, the sentimentality is laid on a bit thick in a few places (for example, the scene where Lucas is writing to his dead mother looks as if it may been sponsored by Kleenex), but these are easily forgiven because the performances are so sincere and effective - particularly that from the young, camera-hogging Mehdi Ortelsberg (a future star if ever there was one).  The saccharine-doused romantic subplot is counterbalanced by some delicious comedy, which includes the wondrously surreal sequence in which the cow Maéva goes walkabout in Paris and somehow manages to get into the metro.  It has to be seen to be believed.

La Vache et le président has the kind of broad appeal and production standards that will ensure it becomes a classic of its genre.  Children of all ages, from five to ninety-five, will take pleasure in a small boy's indefatigable efforts to save the cow he loves whilst fixing his lonely father up with a new wife.  Yes, sometimes it does us good to put aside our jaundiced grown-up sensibilities and look at the world through a child's eyes.  Perhaps if we did that more often things might not be so bad.

Film Synopsis

Lucas is an eight-year old boy who lives with his father, Romain, on a small farm in Brittany.  They own a small herd of cows which includes a young Galloway calf, named Maéva.   Lucas and Maéva have a close bond, since both lost their mothers when they were born.  Disaster strikes when one of the herd is shown to have signs of mad cow disease.  Lucas is heart-broken as his father's cows are taken into quarantine, most likely to be slaughtered within a fortnight.   But there is one hope: under Article 17 of the French constitution, the President of France has the power to issue a stay of execution to the condemned.  Realising how much the Galloway calf means to his son, Romain rescues Maéva and the three head off to the Elysée Palace in Paris.  When their initial attempts to contact the President fail, Lucas and Romain turn to a young woman, Sarah, whom they met during her stay in Brittany.  Sarah has some friends in high places who might just be persuaded to save Maéva…