Evelyne Ducat disappeared on the way to her winter vacation home, but Alice Farange does not understand how anyone she might know could be involved. She is also distracted by her own issues. Lately, she has conducted a rather open affair with Joseph Bonnefille, a rustic farmer, whom she met through her work at his insurance company. Unfortunately, that relationship is also about to take a sour turn, for reasons she does not understand.
Meanwhile, things are still frosty with her husband Michel, who is acting especially distracted lately. Regardless, she is still genuinely concerned when he returns home late at night, bloodied and battered. She assumes they are fighting over her, but what is really going on is much darker and more complicated—and it will take a while for the full picture to reveal itself.
Only the Animals is definitely constructed like a puzzle box, in which clues are teased in full sight, but viewers need Moll to keep rewinding the narrative, to provide the context needed to put the pieces together. Fortunately, they all really do fit together at the end. The truth will indeed be revealed, but before then, Moll manages to wring a fair amount of suspense out of the mystery. There is also a rather surreal left-turn taken during the third act, somewhat akin to Charles Sturridge’s A Handful of Dust.
True, there are plenty of contrivances in Only the Animals, but Moll pays off our indulgence. It is a cleverly constructed mystery that hooks viewers with the strength of its performances. Plus, cinematographer Patrick Ghiringhelli truly makes the Lozere mountainside look cold, harsh, and lonely, but in a strikingly cinematic way. Sometimes films like this can be a little too cute, but Moll invests it with a darkness that keeps it real. Highly recommended, Only the Animals opens this Friday (10/29) in New York, at the Quad.
