“When Animals Dream” Slow-Moving But Beautifully Filmed

Tweet

I had no clue what this movie was about when I saw the box on Netflix; they never announce new titles unless they are blockbusters so you have to dig around to find the hidden treasure. “When Animals Dream” is a slow-moving film but it has a minimalist feel to it; there is dialogue between the characters but you never hear a complete conversation. This is subtitled so unless you know Faroese or Finnish chances are those pesky subtitles are going to be your best friend whilst watching this. The story revolves around Marie and her parents; her mother is wheelchair-bound and she spends most of her free time taking care of her. You think she had a stroke or was in an accident but she's being purposely drugged to keep her from hurting herself or others. That's where “the curse” comes into play; you never hear about it or how the women of the family have been afflicted with it but you see both Marie and her mother 'in action'. Marie has no clue what she really is until a rash appears on her chest. Her doctor, the same one that's treating her mother, reassures her that its nothing but he knows that's the first sign of the disease. Somehow everyone in the town knows about the curse and are extremely leary about Marie working at the fish processing plant. The movie finally starts moving when she going to a club with Felix (and this is the first time you ever see her smile); while there she see's Daniel and tells him that she's turning into a monster and wants to have sex before that happens. There's brief nudity in the film but since it is an international film it has an NR (not rated) rating. For me one of the best parts of the movie were the highly realistic conversion scenes when she is morphing from human to werewolf. Before you think of a typical werewolf covered from head to toe in fur, Marie only has a minimal amount of hair that grows in. The ending is befitting what Marie has had to endure through the whole film but most of the film is predictable. This was released in 2014 with an 85 minute run time Watch the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4geYD__tqCE