Seules les bêtes

... 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!

The trick of circular stories or vantage points has been used many times with different levels of success; Akira Kurosawa RASHOMON is perhaps the most famous of all; however in that case there were different points of view (and colours); here the story is constructed with events related to each individual character forming a whodunit. The main problem is that not everything is completely explained; leaving the second story, the most intriguing of the whole, unresolved which makes it perhaps even unnecessary. Still your interest is almost always maintained until the last two twists at the end which seem made to add a last touch of madness and the irony. There is no much that can be said without revealing the mystery. A rich woman disappear in a farmers region and almost every character is related to the events somehow. In brief; it is not a great entertainment but if you are tired of the conventional crap, this one has a lot of surprises.

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!

Subtitles did not distract from this twisted plot. I remained engaged throughout. Don't question the storyline, as it's a tad improbable. It's something different, in a good way.