diff --git a/compose/testcontainers/compose/__init__.py b/compose/testcontainers/compose/__init__.py
index 6f5f2109e..6af430378 100644
--- a/compose/testcontainers/compose/__init__.py
+++ b/compose/testcontainers/compose/__init__.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 from typing import Iterable, List, Optional, Tuple, Union
 
 from testcontainers.core.waiting_utils import wait_container_is_ready
-from testcontainers.core.exceptions import NoSuchPortExposed
+from testcontainers.core.exceptions import ContainerStartException, NoSuchPortExposed
 
 
 class DockerCompose:
@@ -110,7 +110,10 @@ def start(self) -> None:
         if self.build:
             up_cmd.append('--build')
 
-        self._call_command(cmd=up_cmd)
+        return_code = self._call_command(cmd=up_cmd)
+
+        if return_code:
+            raise ContainerStartException(f"Docker compose failed with return code {return_code}")
 
     def stop(self) -> None:
         """
@@ -194,7 +197,9 @@ def _get_service_info(self, service: str, port: int) -> List[str]:
     def _call_command(self, cmd: Union[str, List[str]], filepath: Optional[str] = None) -> None:
         if filepath is None:
             filepath = self.filepath
-        subprocess.call(cmd, cwd=filepath)
+
+        return subprocess.call(cmd, cwd=filepath)
+
 
     @wait_container_is_ready(requests.exceptions.ConnectionError)
     def wait_for(self, url: str) -> 'DockerCompose':
diff --git a/compose/tests/test_docker_compose.py b/compose/tests/test_docker_compose.py
index 00f231e68..70bae9dd4 100644
--- a/compose/tests/test_docker_compose.py
+++ b/compose/tests/test_docker_compose.py
@@ -5,13 +5,19 @@
 
 from testcontainers.compose import DockerCompose
 from testcontainers.core.docker_client import DockerClient
-from testcontainers.core.exceptions import NoSuchPortExposed
+from testcontainers.core.exceptions import ContainerStartException, NoSuchPortExposed
 from testcontainers.core.waiting_utils import wait_for_logs
 
 
 ROOT = os.path.dirname(__file__)
 
 
+def test_can_throw_exception_if_docker_command_fails():
+    with pytest.raises(ContainerStartException):
+        with DockerCompose(ROOT, compose_file_name='does-not-exist.yml'):
+            ...
+
+
 def test_can_spawn_service_via_compose():
     with DockerCompose(ROOT) as compose:
         host = compose.get_service_host("hub", 4444)