Nejma just wants to run with the bulls. She’s the only woman on a cattle ranch in the south of France, and she’s out to prove herself. In this rodeo-style stunt, the bull is not harmed but baited and taunted, making it charge while the runner leaps out of its way. Agility and dominance are everything.
Nejma’s fellow bull-runners, all men, tease her and cast playful insults. A night out drinking with them leads to her imbibing “magic candy,” then venturing into the night fields to confront her nemesis Thunder, a young bull with whom she has a psychic link. In the ring, they understand each other. Searching in the dark for the beast, Nejma falters, then blacks out, and awakens the next morning in her bed, aching. She has unaccountable wounds. If she didn’t know better, she’d think she’d been ravished by Thunder.
Fever dreams follow. Tony, a kindly ranch hand, tends to her and advises her to slow down. But Nejma is going through changes: her senses are heightened; watching others eat steak repulses her. She becomes more animalistic. The guys kid Nejma about becoming a “bull-woman” and a “were-bull.” Bovine moans echo through the fields, beckoning her. If she didn’t know better, she’d think she’s transforming into… a bull?
Soon, entrails are found in the fields. Something’s killing bulls. Corpses of fellow runners are found. Something’s killing cowboys. It’s bad for business: Thunder is the suspect, and he is hunted, even as Nejma’s bond to him tightens, leading to some bloodcurdling body horror.
Humans morphing into animals is a film premise that can go goofy fast, but writer/director Emma Benestan is up to something sincere. She uses the horror genre to make important points about passion, power, and accession. Her previous directorial effort was 2021’s Hard Shell, Soft Shell.
Ms. Benestan’s casting of Oulaya Amamra as Nejma is a smart choice. She’s dark and diminutive, in sharp contrast to the hunky dudes that surround her. Nejma is a stranger in a testosterone-fueled land. She’s determined. She will not be subordinated. Her relationship with Tony (Damien Rebattel), who is gay, deepens the thematic undercurrent and turns what could have been a facile gimmick into a compelling study of sexual transference.
Claude Chaballier is Leonard, Tony’s father, and the ranch owner. He has a stirring scene with Nejma, in which he tells her, “Bulls […] give you everything. But they take absolutely everything.” His paternal presence deepens the theme even more. The fine supporting cast includes Vivien Rodriguez, Elies-Morgan Admi-Benssellam, Pierre Roux, and Renaud Vinuesa. Marinette Rafal as Nejma’s mother is the only other woman in the cast.
Animale’s setting, the south of France’s Camargue region, immerses the viewer, from the propulsive scenes of bull-running to the shadowy tableau of long horns and eyes of the herd glowing in moonlight. Fine work of Ruben Impens (cinematography), Clémence Diard (editing), Stéphanie Caron (makeup), Olivier Afonsso & Marine Despiegelaere (SFX), and Éve Martin (production design).
The ending risks appearing dorky, but it is meant to be mythic, defined by Nejma’s primal scream. It forces a reconsideration of what went before and makes Animale a potent allegory.
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Animale. Directed by Emma Benestan. 2024. French with English subtitles. From June Films. Runtime 98 minutes. ON VOD and digital platforms.