Tout un hiver sans feu

This harrowing portrayal of loss, love and cows is an emotional journey which juxtaposes a couples' grief at losing a child with the grief of the Kosovars after the genocide.

Jean is a farmer trying to rebuild his life after his daughters death while his wife becomes increasingly detached both from him and reality. The bleakness of the landscape, the unspoken blame for the death of his daughter and the pressure from his family weighs Jean down to such an extent that we can feel him carrying his burden as he moves about every scene.

As Jean finds farming increasingly unable to sustain him and the cost of care for his wife he takes work in town at the fabrication factory where he befriends a young Kosovar. Through him he meets his sister who lost her husband during the genocide. The resilience of the Kosovar community who have suffered such great horrors is contrasted with the private grief of a father.

The film is a wonderfully honest depiction of relationships and love, and if you allow it, proves highly rewarding viewing.