When Animals Dream (2015)
Starring Sonja Suhl, Lars Mikkelsen, Sonja Richter, Jakob Oftebro
Directed by Jonas Alexander Arnby
Think of it as the “anti-Ginger Snaps.” When Animals Dream is also a coming of age female sexuality story cloaked in werewolf skin – but it’s a lot less fun. Not that I need all fun all the time. I have a high tolerance level for slow art films drenched in bleakness. But they have to be interesting and relatable on some level. I did not connect with any of the characters in Jonas Alexander Arnby’s critically acclaimed festival darling.
Depressed and sickly 19-year-old Marie (Sonja Suhl) whiles away her dull days on a remote Danish island where she and her parents live – if you can call this living: dad Thor (Lars Mikkelsen, brother of Mads) is dour and sullen, and mom Mor (Sonja Richter, Suhl’s real-life mother) is a wheelchair-bound, half-catatonic invalid. Marie gets a nightmare job in a fish factory assembly line, but in addition to having to handle cold cod, she’s got to fend off the rapey and humiliating overtures of her cad coworkers. There is one ray of hope in Marie’s sorry existence: handsome would-be beau Daniel (Jakob Oftebro).
As it turns out, Marie’s mum is a lycan legend in town – even if she does have to be sedated and regularly shaved by her doting husband. As soon as Marie learns this secret and begins to sprout a furry pelt of her own, she taps into a certain supernatural power. Part of that power has to do with down ‘n dirty doggy-style sex. In one scene in a crowded bar, she says to Daniel, “I’m transforming into a monster, and I really need to get laid before it happens. Do you think you can help me?” Talk about a pick-up line. (And it works!)
One of the most wonderful things about the horror genre is that artists can imbue their films with all kinds of metaphor, nuance, and unique mythology. But in the case of When Animals Dream, the potential for magic is lost in a mire of mediocrity. The actors are not to blame, as the cast is excellent, especially our protagonists, Suhl and Oftebro. The werewolf makeup effects are subtle and at times bloody, but the overall effect is without, er, teeth.
It’s the slow storytelling and lackluster editing which ultimately do When Animals Dream its greatest disservice; the movie is only 84 minutes, but it feels much longer.
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Film
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