Animal Kingdom, the review of the film with Romain Duris

When the paranormal enters daily life, humans panic. Not in the world of Thomas Cailley. For his second film, **Animal Kingdom **(in theaters), the director imagines a society in full change: human beings randomly transform into animals. A pandemic on a beastly scale. «I read the script after going through the strange lockdown period, he remembers Romain Duris, protagonist of the film together with Paul Kircher. I saw it as a representation of the next phase. A more advanced state of the virus.”

Rejected by those who have not yet been affected by hybridization, i mutants they are relegated to the rank of “monsters”, “insects”, “creatures” and parked in some centers dedicated to medical observation. So when they disappear into thin air, panic sets in. Coexistence is difficult and mistrust grows. At the heart of this society that has become a jungle of intolerance and discrimination, the director focuses on an emotional couple: François (Romain Duris) and Émile (Paul Kircher).

Father and son are looking for the woman of their life, Lana. She is the wife of the first and mother of the second, she was affected by the mutation and escaped from a convoy that was transporting her to one of the centers. In their search, François and Émile collide with their own limits, with the gaze of others and, above all, with the things in life that children hide from their parents.

A father-son duo up to the occasion

With Animal KingdomThomas Cailley could have been content with making a bold fantasy film made in France. A feat in itself. Instead he goes further and condenses his narrative around this heartwarming family duo. To form this tandem, he called on a key figure of French cinema, Romain Duris, whose usual nervous verve is this time calmed down in the role of an unforgettable father, who puts all his energy into his son’s love, hope and future. . Next to him, the twenty-one year old Paul Kircher, who stood out last year in Le Lyceen Of Christophe Honore, shines for his insecure charm, staggering gait and eccentric gaze, always lateral, perfect for playing a teenager in the midst of transition. «The relationship between father and son is the fulcrum of the film», she explains. «We focused on the intimate dimension of the story. The fantastic dimension is at the service of pure emotion.” The strength of Animal Kingdom it lies precisely in this: an extraordinary context and attention to a family tandem that collides with life.”

Romain Duris plays a father who is always on the alert and attentive. Protective, above all, willing to do anything to protect his son from his intolerance and dangers. From an ordinary father, he turns into a hero. «He takes the expected path to become a father, but in Animal Kingdom everything is multiplied tenfold by fantastic events,” observes the actor. «François sees his son transform into a man, just as he sees the people around him transform into animals».

Creepy creatures

On the screen, even i «monsters» disturb the viewer. An octopus man creates havoc among the shelves of a supermarket. A man-of-prey tries to learn to fly. Romain Duris faces a gigantic two and a half meter walrus. Thanks to the care of the special effects, the prosthetics and the trick, these hybrids are hypnotically beautiful. It is worth pointing out that they bear no resemblance to the wonderful bestiary of traditional fantasy films. The realistic appearance of fur, feathers, scales and deformed or atrophied limbs is reinforced by the precision of the cries and movements performed by the actors, such as Tom Mercierwhose bird language is as scary as it is touching.

As for the mutants, Romain Duris and Paul Kircher had some role models. Duris mentioned the Swedish vampire film Morsedirected by Tomas Alfredson, while Kircher conjured The fly by David Cronenberg. For his part, Thomas Cailley gave his actors the titles of films that explore family ties to the extreme: «He advised me to see À bout de course, La Balade sauvage And Requiem for a massage», confides Émile. «I didn’t let the “genre film” dimension weigh too much on my interpretation», says Romain Duris. «I wanted to concentrate on a score of raw feelings».

In a splendid and disconcerting scene, one that remains with us long after viewing, François and Émile continually shout Lana’s name, smiling and crying. They are looking for her in the heart of the forest. It is dark. No sound but their screams. Only Pierre Bachelet, in the car’s CD player, sings She is wearing shoes at full volume. Around them, the only answer is the immensity of the trees that line the road.

In their search, Émile and François are just animals among others, immersed in nature. Thus, on the set, the wild life of the Gascony lands upset the actors. “The shoot was very physical,” comments Paul Kircher. «Every scene was intense». For his part, Romain Duris remembers the «dizzying» filming: «We even asked ourselves if sometimes we weren’t too inclined to let ourselves be overwhelmed by emotions. We had to add a little lightness.” Thomas Cailley subtly introduces humor and sweetness into an almost anxiety-inducing story, thanks above all to the role, minor and central at the same time, of the gendarme, played by Adèle Exarchopoulos.

Normality questioned

Capable of taking your breath away, bringing tears to your eyes and making you smile with mischief, Animal Kingdom stands out as a unclassifiable film. A rarity on the French big screen. Futuristic, fantastic, realistic, social drama, ecological fable, family story… For the actors, articulating genres and tones was a challenge in itself. Paul Kircher, who faced the challenge with confidence, considered the singular script as «an unlimited field of exploration»: «I built this story as I shot it, and it was fascinating. From the moment you imagine a world in which people transform into animals, everything becomes possible. On set I wondered who would turn into what. And how would I have reacted if I had lived alone, outside of any social context, in nature? How would my animal side manifest itself?”.

Without indulging in moralism or existential considerations, Thomas Cailley moves the slider of normality to ask the viewer: How would you react to the difference? How would you react to the beast within you? “I admire the fact that François is not a slave to his worries,” says Romain Duris. «Love takes precedence over his fears. It allows him to move forward. I take note”. A pause and then he continues: «I don’t know if I would have the same trust or hope that he shows in the face of what he is going through. It’s the magic of cinema: the actor learns from his character.” The characteristic of a sensitive animal?