My Donkey, My Lover & I (Antoinette dans les Cévennes) tells a comic story about a French 5th grade teacher in love with the married father of one of her students. She follows him on his family vacation on a trail through the Cévennes made famous by the book Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes by Robert Louis Stevenson.

My Donkey, My Lover & I stars Laure Calamy as Antoinette, the love struck teacher. She’s ready to spend her vacation with her lover, Vladimir (Benjamin Lavernhe), as he had promised. Then she learns he’s taking a hike on the famous trail with his wife Eléonore (Olivia Côte) and his daughter Alice (Louise Vidal) instead.

Antoinette impulsively books the same hike as Vladimir and his family. She rents a donkey for the journey because that’s how Vladimir is doing it. That’s how Robert Lewis Stevenson did it, too.

Antoinette and Patrick the donkey get off to a rough start. Patrick is the real star of the film. He takes work and patience. She finally realizes he’s more cooperative if she talks to him. She tells him about all of her past loves. They develop an understanding and a bond. He develops opinions about her companions and expresses them with loud braying.

Each day’s hike ends at a spot where there are dormitory style beds and a meal provided. She shares her story with the other hikers and becomes famous on the trail for 1) traveling alone, 2) chasing her married lover, and 3) using a donkey when most people don’t. Somehow everyone both ahead of and behind her on the trail hear all about her.

Meeting Vladimir and his family on the trail turns into a disaster, of course. His wife knows how to shut things down between her husband and one of his women with just a few words. Antoinette decides to avoid them.

Despite Patrick knowing this trail forwards and backwards, Antoinette manages to get them lost. They spend one night in the woods. She sleeps resting on Patrick’s warm neck. In the morning when she wakes up they are surrounded by woodland creatures like a Cinderella movie.

The scenery is beautiful, but Antoinette never seems to notice it. I kept waiting for some revelation of wisdom to strike her, but it did not. She’s obsessed with her own quest for love, the lack of a cell phone signal, and how to get back to Paris ASAP. When she’s almost ready to leave, her affection for Patrick draws her back.

I watched the film because it has excellent reviews and lots of people loved the humor. Funny things did happen. My favorite was when Antoinette sprained her ankle. A woman on a black horse rode up to Antoinette, healed her sprained ankle by waving her hands around it, and then rode off on the black horse never to be seen again.

Caroline Vignal wrote and directed My Donkey, My Lover & I. You’ll find it streaming on Prime Video. I enjoyed the film but didn’t find it exceptional.