Animale – Movie Review (3/5)

ANIMALE is a French horror drama with supernatural undertones and a core built around revenge. So yes, while I call it a horror drama, there is more than a faint trace of the uncanny lurking underneath the surface. Add a full-blown revenge story to the mix, and you suddenly have a film that offers plenty to sink your teeth into. Read our full review of Animale below.

ANIMALE is a French fantasy horror drama that comes highly recommended. On paper, it might look like a niche art film, but I actually think it has far broader appeal than you would expect. At heart, it is a revenge story about a woman navigating a deeply male-dominated environment, surrounded by a whole lot of charming men.

Alright, not all of them are charming, but overall, she handles herself beautifully in this world. And that world is modern bullfighting, which turned out to mean something very different from what I imagined. Thankfully so, because otherwise I would never have watched this film in the first place.

I am genuinely glad I did, and I would happily recommend it to fellow genre fans. Yes, even animal lovers!

Read on for our full Animale movie review below. The film is available on digital platforms.

A monster that is both animal and human

With Animale, we find ourselves in Camargue, France. A region known for bullfighting, though in this modern incarnation it is less about weapons and more about skill, strategy, and nerve.

If this had been traditional bullfighting, I doubt we would be covering it at all. I cannot stand that kind of animal cruelty, and anyone who has read my reviews knows I am firmly on Team Animals.

In any case, Animale tells the story of Nejma (Oulaya Amamra), who dreams of becoming the first female champion in this dangerous sport. She trains and struggles alongside her male colleagues and competitors, who both tease her and support her. It is also clear that Nejma feels at home here and is more than capable of holding her own.

Then her life takes a sharp and sudden turn.

After her first real test in the arena with a bull, followed by a night of heavy celebration, something awakens inside her. A raw, unfamiliar force. You could fairly (even appropriately) call it an animal power.

At the same time, young men in the area begin to die violently. Everything points to a rogue bull slaughtering these aspiring bullfighters one by one. A hunt for the animal begins, and Nejma is very much against it.

She resists.

What follows slowly transforms into a full-scale revenge story. But who is the real killer, and what is the motive behind these brutal deaths?

Drama with a streak of animalistic body horror

As mentioned, this story unfolds in a world where modern bullfighting is the beating heart of everyday life. If you want to belong, you work with bulls. Simple as that.

I will admit it. Just the word “bullfighting” makes my skin crawl. Still, it is worth, yet again, to highlight that this modern version does not involve injuring or killing the animal. I am not exactly thrilled about it, but I suppose it is no worse than being a racehorse, for example. Which isn’t good either, but that’s neither here nor there, so I won’t get into that.

What truly matters is where Animale eventually goes.

And it goes somewhere dark, strange, and shall we say “fleshy”.

The film is often described as a drama, but the official genres include body horror, folk horror, plain old “horror”, and drama when you look it up on IMDb. That may not always be a reliable source, but in this case, it fits disturbingly well.

You could even add a few more labels.

Animale is a proper genre hybrid, guided by its story rather than boxed in by neat categories. It shapeshifts as it evolves, just like its heroine.

Watch Animale on digital now

Emma Benestan directs and co-writes Animale, which served as the closing film of the Critics’ Week section at the Cannes Film Festival in 2024. The film blends fantasy, western, and horror, with a noticeable dash of body horror thrown into the mix.

Honestly, Emma Benestan is not a filmmaker I was deeply familiar with beforehand, but she previously worked as artistic director on the Netflix vampire series Vampires, which also starred Animale lead Oulaya Amamra.

Since its Cannes premiere, the film has screened at numerous genre festivals around the world, including MOTELX in Portugal and Screamfest in the US, as well as broader events like the Stockholm International Film Festival.

Now you can finally watch it from the comfort of your own couch.

So if you are in the mood for something a little different, with a solid pace and a constant low-level sense of unease humming in the background, give Animale a chance. It has claws, a pulse, and a story that bites back.

Animale is out on VOD now.

Details

Director: Emma Benestan
Script: Emma Benestan, Julie Debiton
Cast: Oulaya Amamra, Damien Rebattel, Vivien Rodriguez, Claude Chaballier