With the Oscars now firmly behind us, for better or for worse, one might technically believe that the season of awards films are also behind us, too, at least for the next few months before Cannes gives us some early indicators of what to expect to see before the Venice, Toronto, and Telluride film festivals really push forth the “it” films of next season (though, don’t count Dune: Part Two out either). Still, the world of film awards exists outside of the United States as well, and while France’s Anatomy of a Fall (Anatomie d’une chute) cleaned up generously at the Oscars, particularly for a French film not chosen by France as their submission for “Best International Feature” (a choice mired in political controversy as it’s believed to be in response to Justine Triet’s criticism of President Emmanuel Macron’s raising of the retirement age in France, of which she publicly criticized while accepting the Palme d’Or at Cannes), it also did quite a number on the César Awards (the French equivalent of the Academy Awards). However, while it had a whopping 11 nominations going into the ceremony, there was another film that bested it slightly by having 12 nominations, that being Thomas Cailley’s The Animal Kingdom (La Règne animal). And while Anatomy of a Fall won the night by going home with six Césars, including Best Film, The Animal Kingdom trailed slightly with five wins. This is nothing to slouch at, and, while Anatomy of a Fall got itself a U.S. release last year, time will tell whether the only now released The Animal Kingdom will prevail as France’s pick for Best International Feature at the Oscars next year.
L-R: Romain Duris as François and Paul Kircher as Émile in THE ANIMAL KINGDOM, a Magnet release. Photo courtesy of Magnet Releasing.
The world has been hit with another public health crisis, and, unlike previous ones involving illness and death, the world has now succumbed to a series of genetic mutations among humans transforming those affected into a variety of different animals. Two years on, the world is still struggling to understand what causes these mutations, and what there is to do to provide a cure for those afflicted. Even worse, the public opinion of the mutated, dubbed “Critters” by the public, is waning, bordering on aggressive othering and incarceration of Critters. When a convoy of Critters from Paris to the South of France for placement at a new high-tech facility for treatment crashes into a lake, with many scattering and going missing in the area, father and son François (Romain Duris) and Émile (Paul Kircher), along with local gendarme Julia (Adèle Exarchopoulos), must scramble to locate their missing matriarch, an afflicted Critter unaccounted for from the crash before it’s too late, all the while Émile begins to notice changes within his body that might signify something much darker coming down the pipeline for him.
Paul Kircher as Émile in THE ANIMAL KINGDOM, a Magnet release. Photo courtesy of Magnet Releasing.
It’s not hard to see the parables that The Animal Kingdom draws in a less-than-subtle way pretty quickly. There was a moment where I thought the film would become a sort of quasi-COVID tale of widespread sickness in the modern era, but I was really pleased to find the film eschewing that urge (most likely due to the fact that the film’s screenplay was written prior to the COVID pandemic), rather focusing on the dangers of othering those for things they cannot control, and how dehumanization, both figuratively and very much so literally, leads to a lack of humanity amongst all humans. There is a particularly poignant message to be found in the film surrounding the nature of “aggressive” creatures, and whether or not aggression is inherent, or learned merely as a defense mechanism to protect themselves from aggressors who have merely convinced themselves that they are not aggressors.
There is something to be said about how … silly a lot of this entire thing can sometimes feel in execution, particularly in the film’s second act, where things really slow to a near halt and the cracks in the film’s foundation begin to buckle a bit more than they should. We don’t really get much of an insight into the world of the Critters themselves outside of one relationship with a woodland creature Émile comes across. In turn, we lose some of the big picture that the film doesn’t really provide to the audience. We get brief glimpses into how the public handles Critters, and we even get a scene or two detailing Critters who are not directly related to the main characters, but by focusing on so little of the world around them, the looks into the mutations can often feel less effective than they could be, and feel rather cartoonish once things are set in motion. Is a decent deal of this fixed in the film’s effective ending? Definitely, but for something over two hours long, lulls are noticed significantly.
Where The Animal Kingdom shines brightest is in its two lead performances from Duris (Final Cut; The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan) and Kircher (Winter Boy), who have one of the more uncannily believable single father/moody teenage son relationship dynamics I’ve seen in recent years. There is a certain patheticness to Duris’s François, something that the typically charming and handsome Duris isn’t offered often, even in his more dramatic roles. There’s something to be said about an actor’s ability to be the worst version of himself, even if that doesn’t necessarily mean going to major extremes. However, The Animal Kingdom truly is the Paul Kircher show, and it’s a performance that really solidifies him as a young force to be reckoned with within the French-language film industry (or even the English-language industry, if he speaks the language as most young French people do). This, at its heart, is a coming-of-age story of a teenage boy reckoning with the parts of himself he doesn’t like, and how he must find a way to subvert the world’s expectations and opinions of people like him to survive in abundance. It’s a fabulously nuanced performance that is as touching as it is intensely unnerving at times.
Adèle Exarchopoulos as Julia in THE ANIMAL KINGDOM, a Magnet release. Photo courtesy of Magnet Releasing.
That being said, as someone who is a massive fan of her work, I found the utilization of the sublime Adèle Exarchopoulos (Blue is the Warmest Color; Smoking Causes Coughing) to be supremely disappointing, particularly with her complete disappearance from the film’s second half without much of any explanation. She is far too compelling of a presence on-screen to be relegated to such a nothing role, particularly as the film sets her up to be much more involved with the film than she actually is.
L-R: Romain Duris as François and Paul Kircher as Émile in THE ANIMAL KINGDOM, a Magnet release. Photo courtesy of Magnet Releasing.
The Animal Kingdom offers a lot and succeeds in a good amount of it, or at least in the more important parts as a whole. Would I say that there are expectations to be adjusted if you’re entering the film with the mindset that this was the film that had more César nominations than Anatomy of a Fall? Absolutely. Still, for a French film on such a small budget (comparatively), the film is effectively shot, wonderfully acted by its two leads, and poignantly crafted in its central message, it’s a success in its own right. Does that take away from the film’s awkward pacing, silly visual effects, lack of effective worldbuilding, and misuse of a talented cast outside of its two leads? Absolutely not, but to equate those shortcomings as the same importance as what the film gets right is patently incorrect.
In select theaters and on digital March 15th, 2024.
For more information, head to the official Magnolia Pictures The Animal Kingdom webpage.
Final Score: 3 out of 5.
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Categories: In Theaters, Reviews
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