No. 9 (2021) ONLY THE ANIMALS (SELULES LES BETES) January 29th.

 

Film No. 9 (2021)  January 29th.  10:50 PM.  Cinema 7  LUNA Leederville.

"Love, is giving what you don't have. Will you give what you don't have?"(Armand is asked a deep question about his commitment to a future in a fraudulent life).

This thrilling French puzzle of a film has been described as a French, FARGO. Other than the frosty landscape and an accumulation of vulnerable, lonely characters there is little to compare ANIMALS to FARGO. Besides FARGO is based on a real event and ANIMALS is, while entertainingly gripping, pure fiction and downright ridiculous. Oh, sorry, maybe the most appropriate comparison is, if you loved FARGO, then it is highly likely you're going to like ONLY THE ANIMALS.

This review will be short. To give a story outline would be cutting too close to the spoiler bone so my best bet is to discuss the reason why ANIMALS works as a piece of escapism of the highest order. 

For starters, Dominik Moll (THE MONK 2011, LEMMING 2005) who, by the way, makes way too few feature films for my liking, has a great feel for character study. When we meet Alice (Laure Calamy), Michel (Denis Menochet), Marion (Nadia Tereszkiewicz) and Joseph (Damien Bonnard) each headlined as a chapter. A reminder of Tarantino's Jackie Brown incorporating split POV to help with the suspense systemic with puzzle narratives. Themes of internet scamming, infidelity, murder, suicide, loneliness amongst the animals of rural France form just some of the themes.

Ok, those themes won't fill you with joy and happiness but it's not that kind of film. In fact there is next to no uplifting fun on show here. There is however a rollicking good yarn on offer. It all finishes predictably but it has to; the dark irony that proceeds the final scene is inevitable. Gilles Marchand and Moll must have had much fun adapting this Colin Niel trilogy, Selules Les Betes. Far fetched fun, done well, is always worth a cinema visit. 9GUMS.