Vedette

Vedette is perhaps the most self-assured cow you’ve ever seen—and she’s the “queen” of her valley in the Swiss Alps. She’s been winning the traditional annual cow fights for years now, earning the right to the most luscious grass. But what does it do to a female when her age means she doesn’t count anymore?

Filmmakers Claudine Bories and Patrice Chagnard follow this now-elderly bovine in the year she is usurped from her throne. Her owners are two local women who keep photo albums of Vedette and talk about her as if she was a member of the family. Then the two friends ask the filmmakers to look after Vedette. The cow’s confidence may have been shattered, but she’s still got her feisty personality, and she doesn’t like the idea: when she demonstratively turns her rear end towards her new caretakers, it’s a clear statement.

With time, however, cordial relations develop. Friendship, even, and communication. Far away from factory farms, Bories and Chagnard invite us to look afresh at the animals we generally take for granted.