A woman training hard to enter a bullfighting competition soon finds herself in a situation where the men around here are dying one by one.
Written by Emma Benestan and Julie Debiton and directed by Benestan, Animale is an interesting take on a well-loved subgenre (which won’t be spoiled here) one with thropes that are familiar yet presented in a new way. The writing here is good and the direction works well with it. There are a few scenes that feel out of place and this is yet another movie using (trigger warning) SA which has been making a comeback lately and it also getting old again already. For those who do not mind this, the whole film should work well, for those trying to avoid it, the film will likely come to a screeching halt once that scene comes up. Yes, it provides reasons for some of the actions that come after, but there was no need for it, hence the annoyance. For folks who don’t mind or can easily move on, the film does get a somewhat satisfying ending. Here is the thing with Animale, there are plenty of great story elements, some really solid scenes and sequences, even the annoying bits are well done. The writing is good overall and so is the direction.
The cast here works really well together, showing their skills and talent, working as a unit of sort while creating both positive and negative connections between the characters. The lead here is Nejma who is played beautifully well by Oulaya Amamra. Her performance here is natural, human, emotional, nuanced, and just right for just about every single moment. She’s the lead, she knows it but she also brings the other performers along with her. Joining her in quite a few scenes and stealing a few is Damien Rebattel as Tony. The rest of the cast is also quite good, but Amamra and Rebattel stand out the most.
The special effects by MPC are solid to fantastic here, giving the “blank” a great look and giving gore just right. The work here is clearly done with talent and love, giving the viewers something new that still connects to past designs in similar stories and the subgenre. The practical effects and visual effects do not seem to be listed separately on any of the sites where information is listed, but both look fantastic.
Surrounding all of this is the cinematography by Ruben Impens looks great and really makes good use of the film locations and the natural light as well as artificial lighting in nighttime scenes and sequences.
Adding as an aside, the film seems to be using real bull running which many will not enjoy and that is something this reviewer does not appreciate. There was no real need to show the bull running and the bull fighting that happens in the arena, or at least the bulls getting potential hurt was not something that was necessary here. Granted, the film does claim that no bull was hurt in the making of it, but it all seems iffy when the bull fighting is on screen.
Animale is a well-crafted film on all levels but does include SA and bull fighting which many will not want to see so take this as your warning. Overall, the story is good and so is the direction, the acting from the lead is fantastic and the rest of the cast is good. This is one of those film that will either be loved or hated due to content mostly and not sure to talent levels.