Animale
Women’s Work: Essential Films by Female Filmmakers
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1h 40m
Directed by Emma Benestan | 98 mins | 2024
Cattle outnumber people in the Camargue, a coastal region in France’s south, nearly two to one. Nejma (Oulaya Amamra) is determined to master the local, male-dominated bullfighting tradition—but after a night of partying, she begins to experience disturbing bodily changes, beginning with injuries she doesn’t remember sustaining. Meanwhile, word spreads of a rogue bull mauling young men. "Animale" depicts a primal metamorphosis of a piece with Julia Ducournau’s work (and shot by her cinematographer).
Up Next in Women’s Work: Essential Films by Female Filmmakers
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Hotel
Directed by Jessica Hausner | 77 mins | 2004
Jessica Hausner’s eerily enigmatic second feature is suffused with the crystalline chill of its remote alpine setting. It follows Irene, newly employed as a receptionist at Waldhaus, a stately hotel in the woods: The young woman is unsettled to learn t...