The sun rises, spilling its rays over the land, so beautiful you can hardly believe this happens every day and you never noticed.

Thus begins The Fox and the Child, Luc Jacquet‘s follow up to his Oscar-winning documentary, The March of the Penguins.

A nameless ten-year-old girl (Bertille Noel-Bruneau) is cycling through dense forest near her home, when she discovers a fox foraging for food. Mesmerised by her first experience of a fox at close range, she quietly tries to approach her. But like all wild animals, the fox is sensitive to the child’s presence and flees, leaving the little girl determined to find her fox again. We follow the resourceful child as she turns all manner of tricks to track down her fox, then watch in awe as they tame each other.

Jacquet goes back to basics with this unusual fable, inspired by his own childhood experiences in the Retord Plateau near Ain, in south-east France.

Filmed both in the mountains of Jacquet’s childhood and Italy’s Abruzzes National Park, this enchanting film renders these astounding landscapes both exotic and familiar, and encourages us to look again at the natural beauty around us.

As the seasons pass, cinematographer Gerard Simon treats us to a feast of nature’s delights in the living landscape which is arguably the film’s chief protagonist.

Crisp autumn leaves are crushed underfoot, virgin winter snow blankets the forest and spring blooms bring vibrant renewal until finally we laze in hazy summer fields.

In this blissful setting, an array of animals interact with our fox and child, including bears, badgers, hedgehogs, wild boar, wolves and glow worms to name but a few.

Jacquet and his Wildlife Director, Pascal Treguy, seamlessly blend documentary footage of wild foxes and other animals shot over six months, with scripted scenes between Noel-Bruneau and the fox, actually played by five different foxes, whose varying temperaments matched the different behaviours featured in the screenplay.

Kate Winslet‘s familiar narration of this universal story has a lightness of touch, not so much leading the film, as complementing it.

The English dubbing is hardly noticeable when combined with the magnificent score, which maintains the emotional thread and leaves even the youngest viewer captivated.

Playing the only human character in the film, Bertille Noel-Bruneau also inspires with her mostly silent portrayal of an intelligent, brave and independent little girl who serves as a fantastic role model for young female viewers.

The film’s rare focus on a child protagonist, and the complete absence of any adult characters, makes it accessible to both younger viewers, who easily identify with the child, and grown-ups, who yearn for a story free from the cynicism of adulthood.

A refreshing alternative to this summer’s animated or effects-filled blockbusters, this simple look at our relationship with the animal kingdom is by turns sad, funny, scary, joyful and occasionally, violent.

Forget any preconceptions about foreign films, silent screenplays or nature documentaries.

Young and old alike will be enthralled by The Fox and the Child, a gorgeous film as powerfully inspirational as nature itself.

[story by Jenni Sheppard]