The Beasts (2023)
The Story
A French couple have made a new home in rural Galicia, Spain. They grow veggies to sell at the weekend market, and they’re fixing up a nearby home to sell to others who want to experience the amazing views and lifestyle. Life is ideal, except for the hillbilly neighbors next door who turn the couple’s dream into a nightmare. Tensions rise between the educated foreigners and their ruthless rural neighbors, and no good comes from it.
Initial Reactions
Antoine and his wife Olga now live a simple life far from their daughter and friends back home in France. They’ve relocated to a simple stone-built home that overlooks amazing mountain ridges and valleys of the Spanish countryside. Their paradise, however, is ruined by the family of dairy farmers who live down the road. They are exhausted and angry with their lot in life, and they’re even angrier after the French couple voted against allowing a Norwegian company to instal giant wind turbines on their land. The brothers saw the refusal as a slap in the face. How dare someone who has lived in their town for only two years go against the people who have toiled their entire lives there. The men war, to the point that Olga begs her husband to give it all up and leave. She tells him that they didn’t move to paradise to fight every day. It’s a shame that they didn’t give up their dog for a better watchdog, and it’s a shame Antoine needed to stand his ground and not opt to find somewhere else to live. The Beasts packs a lot of drama and tension into its two hour runtime, and every minute of this spectacular film is important.
The Deets
Rating: NR
Concerns: Violence
Runtime: 2h 18m
Genre: Drama, Mystery & thriller
Original Language: French, Spanish, Galician
Galacian Title: As bestas
Release Date (US Theaters): July 28, 2023 Limited
Main Cast
Denis Ménochet as Antoine
Marina Foïs as Olga
Luis Zahera as Xan
Diego Anido as Lorenzo
Marie Colomb as Marie
Machi Salgado
Luisa Merelas
Production & Crew
Distributor: Greenwich Entertainment
Production Co: Arcadia Motion Pictures, Caballo Films, Cronos Entertainment, et al
Director(s): Rodrigo Sorogoyen
Producer(s): Thomas Pibarot, Anne-Laure Labadie, Jean Labadie, Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Nacho Lavilla, Eduardo Villanueva, Sandra Tapia Diaz, Ignasi Estapé, Ibon Cormenzana
Writer(s): Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Isabel Peña
Cinematography: Alex de Pablo
Music: Olivier Arson
Editor: Alberto del Campo
Makeup Lead: n/a
Costumes: n/a