ANIMALS

Laura (Holliday Grainger) and Tyler (Alia Shawkat) have been inseparable for ten years: one flat, the same nights, the same excesses. Laura wants to become a writer and never gets past the first pages; Tyler regards their shared life of parties and drinking as the only honest form of adulthood. Then Laura meets the musician Jim (Fra Fee). The relationship turns serious, soon she is engaged and moves in with him – and the question hangs in the air whether a friendship built on nights without mornings can survive an ordinary day. “Animals” (Ireland, 2019) by director Sophie Hyde tells of the end of a phase that both women come to understand at different speeds.

The screenplay is by Emma Jane Unsworth, adapting her own novel. The film presents itself as a celebration of female friendship without concealing its downsides – dependency, competition, stagnation; the comedy repeatedly tips into bitterness. It premiered in January 2019 at the Sundance Film Festival. “Animals” was shown at Around the World in 14 Films in Berlin in 2019.

Shown at the 2019 edition of Around the World in 14 Films.

All films 2019 · Film Archive