Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows FanStore News Showtimes

Animale

Play trailer 1:25 Poster for Animale 2024 1h 38m Drama Fantasy Horror Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
92% Tomatometer 12 Reviews Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
In the Camargue region of the South of France, there remains an infamous, long-standing tradition of bullfighting. Local youths participate in the elegant yet dangerous challenge, practicing a modernized version of the sport that seeks not to kill the animals but rather to showcase agility and dominance. Among them is Nejma, an intrepid twenty-two-year-old with dreams of one day winning the annual competition. The only woman working on the cattle ranch, she trains tirelessly to prove herself equal among the men, both in and outside of the arena. The ranchers share a deep respect for the bulls, though when a loose bull threatens the community of riders and young men begin turning up dead, a hunt to find and kill the creature begins. Nejma fears for the bull, beginning a dark, mysterious transformation of her own. The sophomore feature of French filmmaker Emma Benestan, ANIMALE is "a brutal disorienting horror fable burning with feminine anger," (AWFJ.org), and a thrilling entry into the body-horror subgenre.

Critics Reviews

View All (12)
Catherine Bray Variety The filmmaking is at its most successful when it moves away from dialogue-driven sequences and into the more visual, visceral aspects of Nejma’s chosen line of work. May 23, 2024 Full Review Jonathan Romney Screen International Animale boasts visual confidence to spare and a compelling, energetic lead performance from Oulaya Amamra... Disappointingly, though, the film never lives up to its bold scene-setting, falling into a pattern of obviousness. May 22, 2024 Full Review Xero Gravity Blerdy Massacre Podcast "The brutality in this sub-genre doesn't have to come from the assault, because this film was brutal, but it doesn't spoon-feed it to you" Rated: 5/5 Dec 3, 2024 Full Review C.H. Newell Father Son Holy Gore In the end, Animale is about how far too many men see both animals and women as consumable for their entertainment and satisfaction. Rated: 4.5/5 Nov 19, 2024 Full Review Ard Vijn ScreenAnarchy Animal left this viewer with an unbalanced and unsatisfied feeling. It's this what prevented me from outright loving this film, and I can't quite tell you all why because I'd have to totally spoil the film. Which, to its credit, would still be a shame. Rated: 7/10 Nov 17, 2024 Full Review Emilie Black Cinema Crazed Overall, the story is good and so is the direction, the acting from the lead is fantastic and the rest of the cast is good. Nov 6, 2024 Full Review Read all reviews
Animale

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW
She Is Conann 84% 55% She Is Conann Watchlist TRAILER for She Is Conann Three Thousand Years of Longing 71% 73% Three Thousand Years of Longing Watchlist TRAILER for Three Thousand Years of Longing The Five Devils 85% 78% The Five Devils Watchlist TRAILER for The Five Devils The Strange Case of Jacky Caillou 100% 62% The Strange Case of Jacky Caillou Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis In the Camargue region of the South of France, there remains an infamous, long-standing tradition of bullfighting. Local youths participate in the elegant yet dangerous challenge, practicing a modernized version of the sport that seeks not to kill the animals but rather to showcase agility and dominance. Among them is Nejma, an intrepid twenty-two-year-old with dreams of one day winning the annual competition. The only woman working on the cattle ranch, she trains tirelessly to prove herself equal among the men, both in and outside of the arena. The ranchers share a deep respect for the bulls, though when a loose bull threatens the community of riders and young men begin turning up dead, a hunt to find and kill the creature begins. Nejma fears for the bull, beginning a dark, mysterious transformation of her own. The sophomore feature of French filmmaker Emma Benestan, ANIMALE is "a brutal disorienting horror fable burning with feminine anger," (AWFJ.org), and a thrilling entry into the body-horror subgenre.
Director
Emma Benestan
Producer
Julie Billy, Naomi Denamur, Jean-Yves Roubin, Cassandre Warnauts
Screenwriter
Emma Benestan
Distributor
Film Movement
Production Co
June Films, Frakas Productions
Genre
Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Original Language
French
Release Date (Streaming)
Aug 8, 2025
Runtime
1h 38m