Animals, shock film of this month of February, is directed by Nabil Ben Yadir. On the occasion of the release of the feature film, AlloCiné met the director.
Animals, a shocking film directed by Nabil Ben Yadir, is based on a sordid incident that occurred in Belgium in 2012. With this uncompromising work, the director offers us the film electroshock of the month of February.
One day he will find the love of his life. he will become a family man and make them all proud. One day it will be mature and fulfilled. A day…
A shocking and poignant story, Animals is taken from a sordid incident that occurred in Belgium in 2012. The film spares us nothing, filming the aggression of young Brahim with confusing realism.
AlloCiné: The film opens with a long scene at Brahim’s parents’ house, where you take the time to install the character little by little, by making us discover the conflict he is experiencing in a visceral way. You wanted from the start to start with this sequence to better immerse us in the horror of this crime?
Nabil Ben Yadir: The idea was to dive into Brahim’s daily life without leaving him for a second. Filming Brahim while preparing for his mum’s birthday was meant to make his plunge into violence even more intense.
Your camera sticks to Brahim without letting go, why this rather radical bias?
The idea was not to let go of Brahim, to follow him as if there were a rubber band linking the camera to the character from behind, and therefore not to stray too far from him, otherwise the rubber band would break. Everything around Brahim is strongly suggested by sound. There is a lot of work at this level.
The idea was to dive into Brahim’s daily life without leaving him for a second.
When the film shifts, when Brahim’s attack begins, you decide to film in mobile phone mode. Why this choice ?
The portrayal of violence transcended the entire making of the film. I didn’t want to suggest how I didn’t want to film it in a classic way because each shot had to be heavy with meaning.
The fact of filming through the prism of mobile phones allowed me to approach reality and at the same time, the fact of leaving the actors free to film what they want gives this impression of realism.
When you know that the film is based on a sordid news item, you can be really gripped by the barbarism of the crime and wonder how people can come to this. Why did you decide to stage the violence of Brahim’s Calvary in such a raw way? Did you consider toning down this violence at the start of the project?
I never thought of toning down the violence. It was a choice that was clear in my head.
I never thought of toning down the violence. It was a choice that was clear in my head. It was also the choice of the real victim’s father. If violence was suggested or watered down, we missed the original idea which was to plunge into violence like our character.
How did you approach these sequences with your actors, in particular Soufiane Chilahwho interprets Brahim?
Everything was prepared, choreographed and accompanied by Mathieu Lardot and his team. Many choreographers let us down because they offered us American-style fights with kicks and punches and it smelled fake.
Until the day I met Mathieu Lardot with whom we did a long preparatory work. The idea was for everything to be prepared, but it was important to give the impression of totally improvised realism.
JHR Films Soufiane Chilah
Moreover, how did you find these excellent actors, whether Soufiane and the members of his family or the criminals, in particular the interpreter of Geoffroy, Vincent Overath, who is chilling?
Soufiane is a professional actor; he had played in my previous film Angle mort. For this film, he gained 17kg and for Animals he lost 15 I think. He is a great actor who is looking for roles far removed from his personality.
For the assassins, it is something else. They had never acted before. Serkan, Gianni, Lionel and Vincent were spotted by Sebastian Moradiellos. Vincent was spotted on the street. He passed the casting without believing it too much and I immediately selected him. She’s an acting bomb. After filming, he joined Kourtrajmé and played a role in the next season of Lupin. It’s gone very well for him.
The end is very surprising, with this wedding sequence and a last shot that leaves us speechless. How did you work to get all the little details? Knowing that everything you say in the film really happened.
It’s still cinema and the idea of this third part was important for us: that of following one of the assassins the day after this act. We wanted to follow his relationship to the family and especially to his father.
Did you receive any pressure or criticism when you announced that you were tackling this very sensitive subject which involves several communities?
Yes… but when you see the strength of dad and what happened to Ihsane, you get over the pressures.
What was the role of the victim’s father, Ihsane Jarfi, in the conception of the film?
He gave me carte blanche but I asked him to write the poem that dad recites to Brahim. It is his poem.
Animals is co-produced by the brothers Dardenwhat was their involvement in the work?
I produced the film with my company 1080 Films and seeing that we shot in Liège, which is their land, we decided together to collaborate on the production. I hired their production designer, Igor Gabriel, who did an amazing job on the film.
And like them, I shot in chronological order, which is really a luxury. We especially collaborated with Delphine Tomson, their producer, who followed the project until the end and who helped us a lot.