Sarah Arnold directs this weird and wonderful tale that balances somewhere between folklore and social drama about a rural town in France shaken up by the invasion of mammoth-sized wild boars and a mysterious murder still leaving its mark a year later. The original title, L’espèce explosive, is far more lucrative than its translation, Too Many Beasts – it means literally the explosive species, and if there is one word to describe Arnold’s work, it is certainly explosive.
Alexis Manenti stars as disgraced and demoted police officer Fulda Orsini sent to work in rural France after a painful breakup and subsequent breakdown. When the town’s bigwig hunters complain of receiving dead boars on their doorsteps and blame the farmers for it, he is entrusted with the case alongside small town officer Victor Chaton (Vincent Dedienne), who attempts to show him the ropes before realising to his dismay that Orsini is in fact a lot more capable than he is. Nevertheless, Orsini is, deep down, on the brink of explosion – and with the somewhat reticent help of the police station’s new therapist, Stéphane Danjir (Raw’s Ella Rumpf), he is about to let it all go.
Despite a slow first act, Arnold and co-writers Jérémie Dubois and Mehdi Ben Attia effortlessly paint the portrait of rural vs urban France, small town politics and the inadequacy and corruption of an administration more preoccupied with numbers than with the people themselves. To this they add an intelligent portrayal of male mental health and gender dynamics, expertly played off by Manenti and Rumpf, so much so that I would happily welcome a spin-off of their road trip adventures together. More importantly though, it is the progression of their relationship that makes it so effective – slowly, then all at once. In the first session, Orsini is still dealing with the aftermath of his breakup, and a real hatred for women emanates from his being. The androgynous Danjir, whose name leads him to believe he is meeting with a man, “adapts to her audience” – she challenges him. Both equal parts vulnerability and aggression (even her surname alludes, quite obviously, to danger), this is a masterclass in character study – a scene in which Orsini giggles like a child while interrogating yet another victim of boar-related crime, then breaks down in their garage thereafter, is genuinely upsetting despite his terrible character. Rumpf similarly is exquisite in her role as troubled therapist – she delivers the best one liners of the film, ricocheting off of him like one half of a comedy duo. At some point, the boars are forgotten, almost a hindrance to what’s really interesting about L’espèce explosive – a couple of genuinely weird and disturbed lost souls who find each other amidst an equally weird and disturbing situation. Three, two, one – kaboom.
L’espèce explosive screened at the London Film Festival and will next screen at the French Film Festival on 23 November.
