Marina Foïs and Denis Ménochet trapped in "As bestas"

• A couple of French expatriates clashes with peasants in a small village in Galicia.

• Marina Foïs and Denis Ménochet are swept up in a spiral of violence.

• "As bestas" shakes the viewer with such virtuosity that it leaves you breathless.

There are movies that grab you, shake you, and leave you panting like after an intense workout.

by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, discovered in Cannes in the Premiere section, is to be classified in this category.

The tension is so powerful between a French couple living in a small village in Gallice and local peasants that it seems as if you will only catch your breath at the end of the screening.

And again: it takes a while to get there.

 “It was the goal I was looking for, confides Rodrigo Sorogoyen to

.

Achieve that the viewer feels caught in the crossfire and can understand and blame each of the protagonists.

The situation turns sour between the duo formed by Marina Foïs and Denis Ménochet and two local brothers played by Luis Zahera and Diego Anido as peasants who we quickly feel capable of all violence.

The shock of this brilliant quartet is of an almost unbearable intensity.

Conflicting interests

“Everyone has their reasons and contradictory interests,” insists the director of

.

Expatriate city dwellers have put all their savings into their organic farming projects and holiday lodges.

The villagers hoped to change their lives thanks to the money promised by a company planning to install wind turbines in their fields.

“From their point of view, the newcomers are stealing their future.

What they take for contempt makes them sink into a form of madness.

The provocations and degradations go crescendo until the gear takes everyone in an irreparable process.

“I was inspired by a real story to show how things can degenerate without anyone really wanting it at the base, specifies the director.

The refusal of the stranger and incommunicability are the themes that my co-screenwriter Isabel Pena and I wanted to address.

The relentless staging of the filmmaker puts the viewer in the situation of a conscious but powerless witness to the drama that is about to unfold.

If Rodrigo Sorogoyen manages to surprise, it is not by the outcome of his film but by the accuracy of the reactions of his characters.

The title

refers to wild horses.

A fascinating opening scene shows how “aloitadores” (local cowboys) manage to mount them at the risk of their lives.

Rodrigo Sorogoyen captures the brutality of these men in his thriller, one of the best of 2022.

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