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Characters say the titular euphemism of Louise Courvoisier’s Holy Cow multiple times throughout the film, usually in a context that bears some relation to a cow. Its first utterance, though, is in response to a show of human folly, when a bystander at a fairground uses it to express shock at the commitment with which teenage Totone (Clément Faveau) responds to a drinking game dare by stripping nude for all to witness atop a table.

It’s quite the introduction to a protagonist who may lack for many things, shame and verve not among them. This hot-headed 18-year-old living in Jura, a rural region in eastern France, doesn’t get the luxury of the gradual coming of age afforded to kids in resource-rich areas. When his father dies suddenly, he’s forced to assume care for his seven-year-old sister, Claire (Luna Garret). Totone gets a job out of sympathy...