A film by Fanny Reynaud and Tristan Miquel

Aloyses “Criquet” is a young delinquent whom the justice system no longer knows what to do with. The adolescent, particularly violent, has run away from the institutions where he was placed and has even been to prison, but nothing seems to work, and each time, he relapses.

At the beginning of the summer, a judge tries one last solution: sending him to a mountain pasture run by Jean-Marie Grillon. In the juvenile justice system, Grillon is well known. This sixty-year-old man with long hair and a thick grey beard is sometimes considered a genius, sometimes a marginal figure. From spring to autumn, he takes in the most difficult adolescents from French-speaking Switzerland to care for cows in the mountains.

For Aloyses, this placement is a revelation. He sees Grillon as a mentor, a father figure who makes him want to “stop messing around.” As Grillon is most likely living his last year at the helm of his association, Aloyses even considers taking over his position. The chemistry works, and Grillon gains custody of the young man for a year and a half. They must leave this winter to travel 20,000 kilometers in India, where the shepherd leads his second life helping the most deprived. Afterward, it will be time to return to the mountain pasture and welcome other adolescents.

Will Aloyses manage to turn his life around and carry the torch forward? What happened in Grillon’s mysterious life that led him to “sacrifice himself,” as he says, in the service of others? What does each of them bring to the other, and how will their relationship evolve on the journey ahead?

Year: 2024 – 2025

In production