Deep in rural Northern France, wild pigs have started to appear and decimate farms. A farmer, enraged, shoots a bigwig and disappears. A year later, someone is dumping pig carcasses on the mayor’s lawn. A disgraced alcoholic cop, Fulda (Alexis Manenti), must team up with his therapist, Danjir (Ella Rumpf), to solve the mystery.
In anglophone filmbro circles, French cinema occupies a space often associated with prestige, art, and pretension. Black-and-white films of the French New Wave, where characters sit around, smoke cigarettes, drink coffee, and discuss the meaning of life. While there are plenty of cigarettes, coffee, alcohol, and ruminations about what it all means, Too Many Beasts is also just a damn funny film.
A classic black comedy mystery film set in the wild landscape of rural France, the film very much follows in the vein of Fargo and The Nice Guys. Likeable, idiosyncratic protagonists Fulda and Danjir play off each other as they fall deeper into the rabbit hole mystery surrounding pigs. Fulda, recently divorced and struggling to work through his emotions, tries to bury himself in the case, only to find that no one but him takes it seriously. Danjir has her own struggles, as she combats the cops’ less-than-charitable outlook towards therapy, while working through Fulda’s volatile emotional state.
It’s hard to believe this is a directorial debut. Director Sarah Arnold lacks the flashy visuals that so many new filmmakers employ to make a mark. She directs chase sequences, physical comedy bits, and quiet emotional moments with the confidence of a pro who has been at it for years. Her screenplay, written with Jérémie Dubois and Mehdi Ben Attia, does not fail to elicit uproarious laughter. The fact that the jokes work even in translation is a testament to the film’s great writing.
The film is also deeply political. It takes a firmly anti-cop stance in its explosive ending. For a film written years ago, it feels quite relevant to the protests in Paris. Too Many Beasts is a funny, weird, and deliriously fun addition to the buddy cop genre.
