The Animal Kingdom, by Thomas Cailley | The forest’s call

Nominated 12 times for the Césars, The animal kingdom, a fantasy drama by Thomas Cailley, propels us into a world where a mysterious epidemic transforms human beings into animals. Alongside Romain Duris, Paul Kircher, nominated in the best male hopeful category, plays a 16-year-old boy who goes looking for his mother.

The starting point of Animal Kingdom seems to be that of a horror film. Transformed into animals by a mysterious evil, human beings having escaped from a convoy taking them to a hospital center for mutants take refuge in the forest for fear of being slaughtered by the population. Written with Pauline Munier, the screenplay for Thomas Cailley’s second film (The fighters) however takes a completely different turn.

“For me, it’s a fable which is a bit utopian because the idea proposed behind it is that of a reconnection to a larger world where there is an acceptance of the other,” explains the director, met at the Unifrance Rendez-vous in Paris in January. The basis of biodiversity is acceptance of others and of all forms of living existence. Above all, I didn’t want to make it a tragic film about the impossibility of living together, but on the contrary to say that we discover a world which is revitalized, which becomes more and more rich, more and more colorful, alive, inhabited. I like that as a future. »

Among those that some call creatures and other critters is Lana (Florence Deretz), wife of François (Romain Duris) and mother of Émile (Paul Kircher, son of actors Irène Jacob and Jérôme Kircher, discovered in The high school student, by Christophe Honoré). In order to be near the hospital center where Lana had to go, the forty-year-old and his 16-year-old son left Paris for the south of the country. At loggerheads with his father, Émile soon observes changes in himself, which will not go unnoticed by the other high school students.

“I welcomed Thomas’ script with joy,” says the actor, who is competing at the Césars in the category of best male hopeful against his younger brother Samuel, revealed in Last summer, by Catherine Breillat. It’s a very exciting role. With Thomas, we had a lot of time before filming to prepare myself, to explore the themes and the journey of the character. There are very specific things in what Émile is experiencing. »

In addition to a fable about diversity praising difference, a reflection on the future of the planet, The animal kingdom is also a coming-of-age story and a metaphor for adolescence.

“The question that arises more broadly in the film is that of Émile’s emancipation, which also allows us to explore how to leave his family,” says Thomas Cailley. Obviously, the mutation first attacks his body, and François, the father, discovers his child to be different from what he thought he was, which is, in my opinion, a discovery that all parents make during adolescence. of their children. »

“At the beginning, Émile restrains these changes a little, he tries to counter them, to cancel them, to hide,” says the 22-year-old actor. After a while, there is a desire that arises, which becomes very powerful to accept what he is becoming, which becomes stronger than the shame he felt at the beginning because he also changes over time. interior. »

A community to redefine

While looking for his mother in the forest, after escaping the vigilance of his father and a caring police officer (Adèle Exarchopoulos), who prefers the term victim to creature, Émile will meet Fix (Tom Mercier) , bird-man, and little Frog (Maëlle Benkimoun), little chameleon girl.

“There is the beginning of a community, a harmony, a possibility of peaceful coexistence,” reveals the director. Which doesn’t seem to be the case or seems more complicated in the rest of society. They look out for each other a little. What I liked is that they are at three different points in their mutation. Émile is at the beginning; Fix is ​​in the middle and the question of language begins to arise; and Grenouille has already moved on. In themselves, they shape the future. »

“Émile no longer really has a family and so, with this bird-man, it allows him to hang on to a wagon for a moment,” explains Paul Kircher. This is also what makes him want to become an animal more and more. »

Throughout his escapades in the forest, the teenager will discover a whole new fauna: “It is not a return to the state of nature, but a new state of humanity,” reveals Thomas Cailley. In the scenario, we tried to cover all the spectrums of species classification, to not forget anything. We have arthropods, birds, amphibians, mammals… Then, we adapted a lot to the physique of the actors to find more precisely what species they were going to be. The more we progressed towards filming, the more we felt free that the characters mutated towards something undefined, that it became something more wonderful. »

Despite its title, what we remember from Animal Kingdomit is humanity that emerges, the power of family ties and the resilience of humans in the face of a changing world.

“I’ve been asked a lot of questions about the genre of the film; The first genre I wanted was melodrama. I really wanted it to be a fantastic melodrama. There is a whole adventure dimension which is important, but the entire structure of the dramaturgy of the film is woven around the relationship between the father and the son, whether or not they are together. I really wanted it to be a film where people hug each other and tell each other that they love each other,” concludes Thomas Cailley.

In theaters February 9

Travel expenses were paid by Unifrance.