This is the “Wild West”. These are the very words, taken from the newspaper El Paísof the prosecutor in charge of the Verfondern case, on which As bestas. This is also what guides director Rodrigo Sorogoyen in directing his most recent film. “Beasts”, in Galician. Or rather the human beast, in this case. The one who comes out claws and fangs when she feels cornered.
Against the backdrop of the Spanish province of Galicia, the European “Far West”, Sorogoyen introduces us to Antoine (Denis Ménochet), a tender Frenchman who has been living for some time now with his wife (Marina Foïs) and his beautiful ideas in a peasant village that he dreams of seeing repopulated. An installation with a taste of intrusion for some inhabitants. Especially for Xan and his brother Loren (Luis Zahera and Diego Anido). The two local “cowboys” refuse to see a stranger interfere in the life of the village where they were born and where they will probably die. And in this vendetta against the French invader, the worst is to be feared.
Men who fight hand to hand with horses in a ballet of violence, others who play dominoes in the tavern with strong alcohol and gratuitous provocations. The iconic image of the western, this saloon where the bandits play poker while drinking a whiskey, is reinterpreted by Sorogoyen with an accuracy that only Quentin Tarantino had reached with the opening scene of his Commando bastards (again with Denis Ménochet, to whom the style exercise seems to succeed).
simply relentless
The tone is set, but let there be no mistake. A western is still light compared to As bestas. More rooted in everyday life – logical for a film based on a recent news story – it is also darker. The campaign that Sorogoyen films is cold, uninviting, even gloomy. In short, a thousand leagues from bucolic contemplation against the backdrop of a “Pastoral” symphony. The photo having planted the uneasy atmosphere, the tension has plenty of time to flourish there.
This film is strewn with strokes of genius with a staging that humbly works wonders. Hypnotic wind turbines to drive you crazy, silhouettes that emerge from the trees as if the forest itself made them appear, the fantastic invites itself long enough to close the trap set for us by the filmmaker. The scenes almost in sequence shots or with angles reduced to their strict minimum raise the tension to a suffocating level. The device is simple. Simply relentless.
Sorogoyen and his co-screenwriter, Isabel Peña, have already shown the extent of their writing talent in the past and renew their supremacy with As bestaswhich earned them a second Goya (the supreme award of Spanish cinema) for best original screenplay after el reino. Because the beasts at bay, under their pen, are never all spotless, and the two acolytes strike us this truth at times when we least expect it.
The dissonant music composed by Olivier Arson, another lifelong accomplice of Sorogoyen, flirts with the sound of an orchestra tuning up before the concert begins, making the power of the instruments felt before the hour and, in normal times, bubbling excitement. This time, the notes make the senses boil and shudder. The typically Spanish percussions then take over and make the heart race to make the anvil of tension carved out by the director almost perceptible.
The Spanish filmmaker, as usual, offers extraordinary pieces of bravery to his actors, whom he directs with a masterful hand. Denis Ménochet had terrified us in Up to the hilt, and once again its raw strength under a quiet surface captivates us. Terror is the fascinating Luis Zahera who takes charge. The Spanish actor is suffocating with intimidation from the first second. It’s no surprise that their two performances were rewarded among Goya’s plethora that won As bestasbecause this beast is fiercely efficient.