A first clip has been revealed for Emma Benestan’s ‘Animale’, which closes out this year’s Critics’ Week at the Cannes Film Festival.
The film is set in the Camargue in the south of France, where daring young people take part in the local tradition of running the bulls. Only one woman, 22-year-old Nejma, takes her place in the arena. Nejma taunts and evades the animals with increasing daring and tries to prove that she is the equal of the men – inside and outside the arena. But both situations put Nejma in danger, as another threat looms over the community of riders: a bull is on the loose and young men are being killed.
After several short films and a documentary, ‘Animale’ is Benestan’s second feature after the critically acclaimed ‘Fragile’ or ‘Hard Shell, Soft Shell’ (2021). The filmmaker’s background is editing, having worked for several years with Abdellatif Kechiche on Palme d’Or winner “Blue Is the Warmest Color” (2013) and Venice winner “Mektoub, My Love” (2017).
“My feature film debut was a romantic comedy, which explored male sensibility in what is expected to be a female context. In ‘Animale’ I placed a female protagonist in a male environment, in a genre typically more associated with masculinity: the West,” Benestan says in the film’s press notes. “I think that is very important: I like to subvert genres and tell stories that are anchored in a diverse context.”
“I had already made a documentary [“Fearless Girl,” 2019] about Marie Segrétier, who was the only one
woman who took part in the running of the bulls. In my work with Marie, I asked myself many questions about her place
in the arena, and the toxic masculinity surrounding her. I wanted to show the power and the power of it
she did – and to show her violence as a form of rebellion against the domination she faced
whole life, and against the iconography of wounded and weak female bodies. At the time I was
I’m also working on a genre series and rewatching all the episodes of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ – my
teenage passion,” Benestan added.
The cast is led by Oulaya Amamra, Cesar winner for “Divines” (2016), who has collaborated twice before with Benestan on the short film “Summer of Sarah” (2015), which won her best actress at the Premiers Plans Festival Festival in Angers. and ‘fragile’.
“I had never seen a bull in my life. The first time I saw the race I was very scared just because they are so big. They are huge. But I was fascinated; I was fascinated by the animals. They were, in a sense, extraordinary partners for the people,” Amamra said in the press notes.
“When I looked at them, I often felt that our souls were connected,” Amamra added. “I had that impression in the second scene in the arena, when I stood in front of them. I realized what it means when we say that animals give back to us what we first give them. I really felt, deep inside, a sensitivity of this wild animal. And that is of course a parallel with my character. Nejma seems very sensitive, very delicate, but gradually she reveals herself to be a very powerful woman. The bulls are very powerful animals, but they can be vulnerable in the race which shows us that deep in their souls they are sensitive beings.”
Film Constellation, which has already completed a series of pre-sales, is handling the sales of ‘Animale’.
Watch the clip here:
