Die Verschwundene

... mix in a dash of coincidence and serve irregularly over ice and heat for a rather unsettling French drama that may well keep you from online chat rooms if you're a...

I wasn't sure what I was getting into, but I actually really liked this movie, but not for the reasons I thought I would.

While the literal English translation for the French title is "Only The Animals" but apparently, in French, a bête can also be a stupid person in addition to a beast/an animal; seul can mean alone. So, IMO, a more apt English title would be "The stupid lonely people"? Lol.

And the story is, in fact, about lonely people making stupid decisions in life and the consequences of those decisions. It is about the extent to which human beings go to deal with loneliness, primal/animalistic tendencies of love and sex; makes you question the moment at which human desire takes over morality and intelligence.

In most crime dramas, the 'what is being told' takes the cake. In this case, the 'what' isn't all that special, but 'HOW this story was told' blew my mind. There storytelling is non-linear, so those of you that enjoy this, surely check this one out. It's told from the perspective of five people (very tough to edit with 2-3 storylines, let alone 5) separately, and everything revolves around a single incident. I really liked how smooth the transitions were, the editing of these perspectives and how the story slowly unfolds, revealing what happened. There are various moments at which I went "Oooooh! This is why that happened back then!" It feels like a jigsaw puzzle falling into place with pieces you didn't know you had to look for. The acting in this movie was good too.

Would totally recommend this if you're looking for something new!

This thriller is full of surprises. The standout is the actress Valeria Bruni Tedeschi. I last saw her in the Italian movie "Human Capital" in an Italian speaking role, and she gives another amazing performance this time in an entirely French speaking role. She is a very talented actress!

Very clever and so entertaining . Couldn't keep my eyes off the screen to see what was going to happen next .Great acting from everyone involved....a first class thriller.

Seules les bêtes starts off with the disappearance of a non-local woman that owns a house in a remote rural area somewhere in France. Multiple people's lives in that area are shown in this story, they are all connected in one way or another through work or simply because they use the same supply store. All of them, except the missing person, have lead fairly dull lives: They are regular people living fairly far apart, don't exactly like the life they are living and seek a way out of the day-to-day by the only limited means they have.

One seeks it online, another through adultery or through (creepy) fetish imagination but they all want the same. All of these lives are somehow stitched together, carefully explored and eventually coming together in a not every day, yet mostly recognizable story of loneliness, unemployment, deceit, feeling unloved, wishing for, and seeking a better life, real or not, even risking the little they have got and cross the invisible line.

Seules les bêtes is an enjoyable drama/crime/thriller movie for all sorts of people, it explores both sides of the coin.