When Animals Dream
Description
Set in a remote fishing town on Denmark’s northern coast, Jonas Arnby’s debut—a muted, tense and beautifully filmed tale of transformation—begins with a seemingly routine visit to the doctor. Quiet and kind teenager Marie has discovered a small irritation on her chest. Probably nothing, decides her physician, after a thorough and only slightly unusual examination. Marie leaves and carries on. At home, she is her father’s right hand in keeping the house in order and in caring for her catatonic, wheelchair-bound mother, whose mysterious condition, we learn, eludes even Marie. After taking a job at a fish processing plant and enduring the not-so-funny pranks of several of her rowdier coworkers, Marie begins to experience sudden primal pangs of rage that are at odds with her generally benign disposition. Her father soon notices this behavioral shift—and also the worsening rash on her chest—and decides that it may be time to let Marie in on a family secret. This subdued yet surprising (and sometimes violent) Scandinavian horror film will bring you both to the edge of your seat and to tears. Leavened by occasional touches of humor, When Animals Dream intertwines a monster movie sensibility with clever allegory concerning societal anxieties over female sexuality. —Julia Nelson
Jonas Alexander Arnby was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1974. He has been working in the film industry for more than 20 years, and over the course of his career has directed music videos, commercial films and fictional shorts. When Animals Dream is his narrative feature debut.
Film Details
Language Danish
Original Language Title Når dyrene drømmer
Year 2014
Runtime 85
Country Denmark
Director Jonas Alexander Arnby
Producer Ditte Milsted, Caroline Schlüter
Writer Rasmus Birch
Editor Peter Brandt
Cinematographer Niels Thastum
Music Mikkel Hess
Cast Lars Mikkelsen, Sonja Richter, Sonia Suhl