If The Animal Kingdom was an average movie, you could figure out the whole story from just the premise. It’s a film about a world where humans have begun to mutate into animals. So, of course, it’s got to be about how most humans hate these mutants, treat them terribly, and we get to see how a small group of them change people’s minds. Roll credits. Right?
Except, The Animal Kingdom is not an average movie. It’s a fantastic movie, a magical movie, and it takes that familiar but exciting premise and explores it in a very nuanced way. The expected is in there, but only on the outskirts, surrounding the core story of how a single family is dealing with this epic global change. The result is an incredibly emotional, uplifting, and well-made movie that will stay with you long after you’ve left the theatre.
François (Romain Duris) and Émile (Paul Kircher) are a father and son who we learn, in the film’s powerful prologue, have a wife/mother named Lana who has begun to change into an animal. It’s an unexplained phenomenon that’s happening worldwide to people seemingly at random. But, in this specific instance, it’s creating awkward discomfort between the father and son. To cope, the pair decide to move to a small village in the south of France to be closer to Lana’s new home, only she doesn’t make it. A transport with several dozen of the mutated humans crashes, and the authorities are having trouble finding them all.
And so François and Émile do their best to acclimate to the new home while also worrying about what has become of Lana. François starts a new job, Émile starts a new school, and through each character, we see how different groups of people are processing all these events. Some people, mostly students at Émile’s school, are accepting of this new evolution of humanity. Most others, especially the adults at François’s job, refer to them as “critters” and discuss how terrible they are.
That side of the story almost had to be in there because it’s such a poignant and easy parallel to the hate and prejudice in our world. Be it race, gender, religion, you name it, you can see it in a story like The Animal Kingdom. But, again, that’s only there as a sprinkling. While François and Émile at first struggle with Lana’s mutation, the shared trauma begins to bond them. Things start to get better between them. And then, just when everything seems to have taken a turn, Émile notices he’s mutating too.
You hate to even reveal that but Émile himself changing is so crucial to what makes The Animal Kingdom so special. As Émile slowly starts to mutate, we are taken fully on his journey. First, there’s rejection, denial, and fear. But slowly instinct takes over, bonds are formed, and it’s less of a question of if he will accept it, but when, or if others—such as his father—will accept it.
Paul Kircher, who plays Émile, is a relative newcomer to acting but he instantly melts into this character. You love and believe him when he’s just a normal kid dealing with parental issues, and you cherish and root for him even more as he begins to discover his new self. The performance is not only enhanced by excellent makeup effects and costuming, but you can see Kircher just starting to move his body differently from scene to scene. It’s subtle, but it’s there, and it makes the character jump off the screen.
Director and co-writer Thomas Cailley tells this story mostly on location, in wooded marshlands that give his mutated humans plenty of room to spread their wings, figurately and literally. It’s not a spoiler to reveal there are more than just a few in the film and the makeup and designs on the characters are absolutely award-worthy. You almost wish you could pause the film just to marvel at all the sometimes beautiful, sometimes horrifying, blends of human and animal ranging from octopus and chameleon to praying mantis and snake.
The film’s score by Andrea Laszlo De Simone and Sebastien Pan also soars throughout the film, giving the characters a very whistle-worthy theme that rises and falls along with the characters. It’s especially poignant in some of the more fantastical scenes as we see creatures really get to embrace their new, animalistic powers.
But while The Animal Kingdom looks and sounds great, it’s that relationship between François and Émile that ties it all together. The way François struggles with not being able to find his wife. The way Émile slowly accepts his fate. And when a few of those stories finally start to come together, it’s absolute magic.
The Animal Kingdom is a sci-fi triumph, full of heart, beauty, and family. It sneaks up on you and wins you over by being so honest, so smart, and so insightful. It’s one of the best films of the year. The film premiered earlier this year at Cannes and had its U.S. premiere at Fantastic Fest 2023. It’s scheduled for release in France in October but no word yet on a U.S. release date.
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