Review by John P. Harvey.

In this warm adventure comedy, Pio Marmaï stars as Ludo, an imaginative horse whisperer and riding instructor who, after a run of bad luck, must devise a new way to make a living.  With the help of his old friend, Richard (Philippe Rebbot), and a government grant, Ludo sets up a social enterprise in outdoor adventure tours.  Richard, though, chronically afflicted by self-overestimation and social ineptitude and presently with no alternative but to live at Ludo’s, has just one redeeming feature: a gift for magic.

Before the end of the pair’s inaugural adventure tour with paying customers, Richard will need to bring his gift to the party in order to offset the problems he contributes, and Ludo will need to bring to bear on people the creative diplomacy that is his forté with non-human animals in order to keep some kind of order amongst the human ones.

As so often in French cinema, one of the things that makes this film so appealing is its variety of lifelike characters and the specific stresses they place on the aspiring adventure guides: from a sulky teen and his browbeaten father to a self-important television actress, Agnès (Camille Chamoux), and a participant, Jonas (Pablo Pauly), on the tour only to shield his partner, (Délia Espinat-Dief), against the attentions of potential rivals for his affection.  The effect upon these and more personalities of one disaster after another is to light fireworks.

Bringing to the role of the resourceful Ludo a versatility that has served him through a variety of genres, Pio Marmaï clearly stars in Wilderness Therapy, but it is easy to see why Philippe Rebbot too is in such high demand, making the bumbling character of Richard one simultaneously sympathetic and infuriating.

An entertaining tale with laughs for all.

Screening at Palace cinemas.