My Donkey, My Lover and I Movie Storyline. Antoinette (Laure Calamy), a schoolteacher, is looking forward to her long planned summer holiday with her married lover Vladimir, the father of one of her pupils. When she learns that Vladimir has to cancel because his wife organized a surprise hiking vacation, Antoinette decides to follow their tracks, accompanied by a protective donkey named Patrick.
My Donkey, My Lover & I (French: Antoinette dans les Cévennes) is a 2020 French comedy film directed by Caroline Vignal and starring Laure Calamy, Benjamin Lavernhe, Olivia Côte, Marc Fraize, Jean-Pierre Martins, Lucia Sanchez, Maxence Tual, Marie Rivière, François Caron, Ludivine de Chastenet and Bertrand Combe. The screenplay was written by Caroline Vignal. The film was released by Diaphana Films on September 16, 2020 in France and on July 22, 2022 in the United States.
Film Review for My Donkey, My Lover & I
In a Paris primary school, a class of eight-year-olds sit behind their desks, eyes squeezed shut, counting to 20. At the back of the room their teacher, Antoinette (Laure Calamy), is getting undressed, slipping into silk frock for the school concert. “It’s not too much?” she asks the pupils. She’s having an affair with one of the dads – he’s married.
Thus, with unparalleled Frenchness, begins this easygoing, warm comedy following Antoinette as she accidentally-on-purpose goes on the same donkey-trekking holiday as her lover’s family. As Antoinette bonds with her donkey, the movie evolves from gentle farce to journey of emotional growth. You might call it Eat Bray, Love – except it’s European, so there’s less pseudo-spiritual self-discovery and more drunken snogging.
Antoinette is meant to be spending the first week of summer holidays alone with lover Vladimir (Benjamin Lavernhe) while his family are at the beach. Instead, when his wife surprises him with a family hiking holiday, Antoinette impulsively books herself a place, too: six days of 20km hikes, staying in hostels. She arrives in teeny denim hot pants and huge wedge sandals – there’s as much Bridget Jones in her DNA as Julia Roberts. But Vladimir is nowhere to be seen, and, predictably, it’s not love at first sight with her stubborn donkey Patrick either.
There are some subtly pointed scenes at the beginning of the trek as a succession of guys mansplain to Antoinette how to manage her donkey. “Show him who’s boss,” says one handing her a whip. Instead, she uses her empathetic teaching style to win the beast over – and Calamy really grounds the movie with her funny, generous performance. The showdown with Vladimir and his wife, when it finally comes, is a lesson in the famous French casualness about infidelity. But Antoinette’s affair slips into insignificance quite quickly; the real chemistry here is with the four-legged ass, not the human one.
My Donkey, My Lover and I (2022)
Directed by: Caroline Vignal
Starring: Laure Calamy, Benjamin Lavernhe, Olivia Côte, Marc Fraize, Jean-Pierre Martins, Lucia Sanchez, Maxence Tual, Marie Rivière, François Caron, Ludivine de Chastenet, Bertrand Combe
Screenplay by: Caroline Vignal
Production Design by: Valérie Saradjian
Cinematography by: Simon Beaufils
Film Editing by: Annette Dutertre
Costume Design by: Isabelle Mathieu
Makeup Department: Noa Yehonatan
Music by: Matei Bratescot
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Greenwich Entertainment
Release Date: September 16, 2020 (France), July 22, 2022 (United States)
Visits: 14
