La Vache et le prisonnier (1959) - film review

Charles Bailly is a French prisoner of war during the Second World War, billeted to work on a farm in Germany.  With the support of his benign German tenants, he plans to escape to France, by crossing the German countryside with a cow.  Bailly’s plan appears to go well at first, but he soon runs into difficulty…

La Vache et le prisonnier is a moving fable about one man’s determined attempts to win his freedom in the face of overwhelming odds – an obvious allegory for France’s struggle for freedom during the Nazi Occupation.  The main character is sympathetically played by Fernandel, one of the true legends of French cinema, best known for his comic roles.  Here, Fernandel puts aside his usual comic persona and gives a straight performance, one that demonstrates his talent as an actor.  Although, from time to time, the film places Fernandel in situations which appear comical, his reaction is unexpectedly sober and subdued, and this serves to bring home the desperation and penury of his character’s situation.  Director Henri Verneuil conveys the hardship of war very subtly, without recourse to violence, making the film suitable for both children and adults.  Fernandel’s empathic relationship with his co-star, Marguerite the Cow, is uncannily stirring, and suggests a strange, improbable bond of love between the French prisoner of war and the German farm animal. 

© James Travers 2000

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I saw this film 50 years ago.  After all that time the simple, understated story has remained, for me, a cherished memory. It is beautifully portrayed, acted and filmed. There is an empathy between the main character and the cow which is enchanting and uniquely French, much in the style of the Tati films of that time - Mon Oncle and Playtime.
Morgan Flynn (Ireland)

I saw the movie when I lived in France, as a young adult. It was and always will be a more than fantastic movie. There is an undertone of sadness, the omni-present knowledge of France at war (a stupid war the French were absolutely not prepared to fight and, of course win). The film is un chef d’oeuvre and the end makes the movie with such immense irony.
Maurice Polar (Nancy, France) 

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