In a high plateau of Lozère, in France, a woman, Evelyne Ducat, disappears in a violent snowstorm. Only his car was found by the roadside. However, without knowing the links which unite them, five people scattered on two continents are involved in what has all the appearances of an insoluble tragedy.
An honest person who has their identity stolen will do anything to find it, protect it. However, we can also hide our identity, change it, modify it, deny it… no matter who we are!
What exactly is the identity of all the characters in Only the beasts ? Who is living in the real world? Who prefers lies, the facade, the double life? And what about this missing Evelyne Ducat (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi)? As she appears to be a victim, was her identity purer than that of others? Maybe not…
Here are as many questions, leads, intrigues that the director Dominik Moll (Harry, a friend who wants you well) deposits along the route he has traced for the viewer in this wonderful film with drawers.
Inspired by the homonymous noir novel by Colin Niel, this feature film offers us five stories united by the quest for love and identity. These stories fit together, echo, collide. They are told to us through a completely deconstructed narrative. Each chapter and each scene are like pieces of a puzzle that the director is working to replace slowly. The spectator is then part of it.
And everything is based on love, or rather the need for love, that of feeling the warmth of the other, but also of recognizing oneself in the gaze of the other.
Without saying too much about the plot, note that it all starts with Michel and Alice Farange (Denis Ménochet and Laure Calamy), a couple who live in an isolated house. He is a farmer and always stays at home. She is an insurance representative and often on the road. Their couple crumbles. They are looking for other avenues. One of them will trigger an avalanche of unsuspected proportions.
That the story is set in one of the most isolated and depopulated places in France further highlights the hidden life of each individual.
If there is a weakness, it lies in an abuse of scenes where Michel writes, swooning, to the beautiful Amandine (Nadia Tereszkiewicz), whose identity has been usurped. These “cat” scenes become boring and break the rhythm of the film which, otherwise, is exciting.
At the end of the journey, the director has kept one surprise, another, which can only make you smile. He had one last card in his deck. He got us well.
Indoors
DRAMA, THRILLER
Only the beasts
Dominik Moll
With Denis Ménochet, Laure Calamy, Nadia Tereszkiewicz
1 h 58
Consult the film schedule