Synopsis
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.
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Cast
- Laure CalamyAntoinette Lapouge
- Benjamin LavernheVladimir Loubier
- Olivia CôteEléonore Loubier
- Monsieur FraizeMichel
- Jean-Pierre MartinsShériff
- Louise VidalAlice Loubier
- Lucia SanchezAnnie
- Maxence TualJacques
- Marie RivièreClaire
- François CaronBernard
Recommendations
- 100
San Francisco Chronicle
Writer-director Caroline Vignal could have made "My Donkey” into a 90-minute monologue, with Antoinette talking to the donkey. Instead, there’s lots of variation, smart turns of story and well-drawn, well-defined characters. Vignal makes even the bit characters, the ones with just three or four lines, vivid. - 80
Los Angeles Times
Calamy delivers a beautifully open performance at the center of an utterly winning comedy about the most important journey a person can take: toward finding themselves. - 70
Arizona Republic
It’s delightful. Director Caroline Vignal infuses the film with just enough whimsy — but not too much. It’s not going to rewrite the rules of cinema or anything, but it’s not trying to. - 70
The New York Times
My Donkey, My Lover & I is yet another story about a woman who ventures out into the wild and finds herself. But to the writer and director Caroline Vignal’s credit, this low-key romantic French comedy proves friskier and more idiosyncratic than its reliance on this trope of feminist empowerment would suggest. - 70
Wall Street Journal
Its plot is simple and direct, albeit enlivened by well-timed surprises. The film isn’t especially funny—droll is more accurate—but its approach to Antoinette’s character adroitly balances sympathy with mockery. - 67
Austin Chronicle
My Donkey, My Lover & I isn’t going to break the mold, but it’s an easy stride of a film that’s bubbling with joy. - 67
IndieWire
There’s such a warm buoyancy to My Donkey, My Lover & I — such a well-earned, rejuvenating naturalness to the way that Vignol addresses the insecurities and frustrations that keep middle-aged women from loving themselves — that it eventually hits with the same oomph of a film that takes itself far more seriously. - 67
The Film Stage
My Donkey, My Lover & I is a sun-kissed, transportive charmer that doesn’t bring much new to the table yet never hits a snag. In other words: the ideal summer watch.
