“Shot using a rare 1980s video camera, with a nostalgic colour response, the film has a found-footage aesthetic. When the action veers away from the observational and into the dreams, fears and desires of Aridjis, the surrealist elements are reminiscent of David Lynch, while the thriller storyline that develops could have been plucked from a Paul Schrader screenplay. The way Aridjis’ father is photographed at the end of the phone is reminiscent of a James Bond villain. It’s a surprising, elegiac film with a thumping soundtrack by Andy Cooke that works by stoking interest in both Carrington and Aridjis, since it does not intellectualise about their lives, but rather creates a fantasy psycho-docudrama. Documentary surreality, if you will.”
“Near-uncategorisable. It punctures the pretentiousness of the art world– and it’s a triumph.” Charlie Phillips, THE OBSERVER
“The most original film of 2018, and possibly the creepiest.” Jason Solomons, BBC RADIO LONDON
“Unnerving, riveting, and mesmerising…. The unity of Appignanesi’s brilliant cinematic vision and Aridjis’ compelling and vulnerable performance makes Female Human Animal resonate.” Hannah Clugston, LITTLE WHITE LIES
“Boldy defies categorisation. Darkly fascinating and surprisingly funny.” Larushka Ivan-Zadeh, METRO
“Like a micro-budget Don’t Look Now crossed with a rogue episode of The South Bank Show, and all the better for that.” Ed Potton, THE TIMES
“Understands its place in cinema history… The aesthetic of uncertainty perfectly underscores the suspense of the film’s action” Kate Webb, The TLS
“An unearthly adventure… Female Human Animal breaks open a genre and emerges as something entirely new.” Sabina Stent, THE F-WORD
“Sui Generis… You’ve got to admire Appignanesi’s total disregard for marketability” THE GUARDIAN
“Appignanesi & Aridjis’ extraordinary hybrid documentary fuses surrealism and reality.. A remarkable & surprising portrait.” Kaleem Aftab, CINEUROPA
“What a truly remarkable film.” Mike Pinnington, THE DOUBLE NEGATIVE
“Deliriously experimental.. Strange and illuminating.” Dave Calhoun, TIME OUT
“Social Surrealism… Moves between scenes of quiet profundity and sincerity into a kind of schlock horror.” Jennifer Higgie, FRIEZE
“Beguiling hybrid… less a profile than a tribute to the feral spirit in which Carrington lived and worked.” RADIO TIMES
“Dazzling… A living work of art that leads us to the conclusion that we must not hand over our our female human animal to some ‘half-arsed male’.” DIRTY MOVIES
A feature film by Josh Appignanesi (The New Man, The Infidel, Song of Songs)
Produced by Jacqui Davies (The Sky Trembles and the Earth Is Afraid and the Two Eyes Are Not Brothers, Richard Billingham’s RAY& LIZ)
Run Time: 91 Mins / Cert: TBC (expected 15)
Format: DCP / ProRes / Blu Ray
Funded by Arts Council England