The second feature from Greek director Sofia Exarchou, Animal paints an almost documentary-like portrait of a group of vacation resort animators.

It's summertime. On a Greek island, behind the scenes of an all-inclusive hotel, performers are rehearsing: every evening, dance shows of various genres are offered to tourists. Animal recounts the daily lives of these artists (often women) who arrived on the island young, from Greece or other countries such as Poland or Russia. Originally arriving just for a summer job, they end up staying, sometimes for years like Kalia, stuck with her daughter in this endless summer, dancing the same interchangeable shows for a distracted audience.

Neither deeply dramatic nor tragic, Animal is a Showgirls without the glamour, the portrait of a colony of precarious dancers carried by an old hand who's a bit on edge, but who never screws up her shows and always keeps smiling, as she's learned to do so well. Played by Greek actress Dimitra Vlagopoulou, who won an award at the Locarno Festival for this role - and who is also pursuing a career as a contemporary dancer - Kalia is only in her thirties, but she's already past the age of regret, of thinking she could have led a different life.

Director Sofia Exarchou doesn't indulge in easy melancholy. Without fantasizing about the images of a summer in Greece, without exaggerating either the beauty of the scenes or the sadness of the situations, without being miserable, the filmmaker captures a reality in the manner of a documentary. Summer goes on, and each day has its own sorrow.

ANIMAL BY SOFIA EXARCHOU,
IN CINEMAS FROM JANUARY 17, 2024