In this psychodrama thriller from writer/director Hubert Charuel, reserved French dairy farmer Pierre only has bovines on his mind (and in his ominous dreams), but that doesn’t prevent his overbearing mother from attempting to set him up with local baker, Angélique. Yet when one of Pierre’s cows begins to display symptoms of a highly contagious disease, he must handle the situation with aplomb lest his entire herd, and livelihood, be slaughtered.

The desperate Pierre toes the line of madness as he goes to extreme lengths to avoid detection from his parents, colleagues, Angélique, and his suspicious, and unknowingly abetting, veterinarian sister Pascale. A fellow farmer’s frenzied YouTube channel suggesting a government conspiracy is at fault only reinforces Pierre’s growing instability. Inspired by his own upbringing, Charuel assuredly balances a naturalistic depiction of farm life with a gripping, near-surreal study of a man at his wit’s end.