‘Animal’: Locarno Review

Dir/scr: Sofia Exarchou. Greece/Austria/Bulgaria/Cyprus/Romania.. 2022. 116 mins.

The glaring disparities between rich revellers and the hard grafters who make their carefree holidays possible have provided rich pickings for The Triangle Of Sadness (2022) and television’s The White Lotus. Writer-director Sofia Exarchou’s second feature Animal explores a fresh angle on that familiar terrain. Her interest lies in a group of ’animateurs’ employed to ensure that there is never a dull moment at an all-inclusive island resort. An overlong but sharply observed portrait of the milieu finds its focus in a potent central performance from Dimitra Vlagopoulou as a woman cracking under the strain of one more season where the show must go. This plaintive character study should visit extensive festival destinations following a world premiere at Locarno.

This plaintive character study should visit extensive festival destinations following a world premiere at Locarno

Exarchou’s first feature since Park (2016) is set on a Greek Island at the start of another holiday season. Cinematographer Monica Lenzewska favours grey skies, empty beaches and a bleached-out colour palette as if to emphasise that this is far from a sun-kissed paradise. Thirtysomething Kalia (Vlagopoulou) is the oldest of the animateurs and is about to embark on her seventh season at the Hotel Mirage.

Exarchou shows a light touch in contrasting the lives of the workers with the holiday-makers. The tourists are largely passive consumers with the expectation of constant distractions from light exercise in the pool to an afternoon bingo session and an evening show. Good cheer is essential. Flirting is optional but not unwelcome. The mostly elderly holiday crowd is happy to embrace audience participation in scenes that have a hint of the eccentricity and dry humour in the films of Yorgos Lanthimos.

The hard-working rag-tag of dancers, singers and entertainers have been assembled from across Europe, and Exarchou spends a good deal of time establishing their working lives. They are housed in basic huts with cracked paint. Utilities are marked with rust. They pounce on any leftover food that might be on offer.  There is a documentary feel to the extensive footage of them rehearsing routines, messing around on the beach, making costumes and perfecting their best smiles. The presence of teenage newcomer Eva (Flomaria Papadaki) from Poland is a bittersweet moment for Kalia. The two women bond but Eva is an inescapable reminder of her younger self and the passage of time.

Kalia emerges as a tragic lost soul. She is a dedicated performer who lets nothing stand in the way of her job, even a nasty injury to her leg. After hours, she rushes to the world of pubs and clubs, numbing her pain with alcohol and another joyless one night stand. The animateurs exist in the shadows of the resort. They pick up extra work in clubs and seem to live for the night life. Exarchou pictures them weaving along pitch-black roads on motorbikes or staggering home by the first light of dawn before it is time to spread their razzle dazzle over the next cohort of tourists.

Melancholic in tone, Animal is elevated by Vlagopoulou’s performance. She previously collaborated with Exarchou on Park. Here, she creates an affecting portrait of a woman stuck in a rut that she seems unable to change or escape.  Her strained features, straggly blonde hair and panda eyes help create a brittle portrait of someone running on empty. Her Kalia has the air of someone constantly crying on the inside whilst determined to show the world her happy face. Her tear-stained karaoke rendition of Baccara’s ’Yes Sir, I Can Boogie’ is a highlight and an effective means of revealing the anguish beneath the smile.