FEMALE HUMAN ANIMAL

Shot in the real-life contemporary art world, FEMALE HUMAN ANIMAL is a psychothriller about a creative woman disenchanted with what modern life has to offer her.

When the novelist Chloe Aridjis curates the Tate retrospective of surrealist icon Leonora Carrington, an elusive, brooding man appears to her, seeming to offer more. Emboldened by the artworks' defiant mystery, Chloe pursues him. But as she descends into a world of obsession, is she hunter or hunted?

A darkly romantic docufiction of a woman who goes beyond societal norms, it enacts the lurid unconscious of our new sexual politics.

UK Theatrical Oct 2018 / US Feb 2019

MUBI distributing globally

Also on BFIPlayer


“Near-uncategorisable. It punctures the pretentiousness of the art world-- and it's a triumph.” Charlie Phillips, THE OBSERVER

“The most original film of 2018, and possibly the creepiest.” Jason Solomons, BBC LONDON

"Remarkable... A thrillingly strange adventure." Mark Kermode, BFIPlayer

“Unnerving, riveting, and mesmerising.... The unity of Appignanesi’s brilliant cinematic vision and Aridjis’ compelling and vulnerable performance makes Female Human Animal resonate.” Hannah Clugston, LITTLE WHITE LIES

“Boldy defies categorisation. Darkly fascinating and surprisingly funny.” Larushka Ivan-Zadeh, METRO

"A feminist odyssey" Erik Morse, ARTFORUM

“Like a micro-budget Don’t Look Now crossed with a rogue episode of The South Bank Show, and all the better for that.” Ed Potton, THE TIMES

“Understands its place in cinema history… The aesthetic of uncertainty perfectly underscores the suspense of the film’s action” Kate Webb, The TLS

“An unearthly adventure... Female Human Animal breaks open a genre and emerges as something entirely new." Sabina Stent, THE F-WORD

“Sui Generis… You’ve got to admire Appignanesi’s total disregard for marketability” THE GUARDIAN

“Appignanesi & Aridjis' extraordinary hybrid documentary fuses surrealism and reality.. A remarkable & surprising portrait.” Kaleem Aftab, CINEUROPA

"What a truly remarkable film." Mike Pinnington, THE DOUBLE NEGATIVE

“Deliriously experimental.. Strange and illuminating.” Dave Calhoun, TIME OUT

“Social Surrealism… Moves between scenes of quiet profundity and sincerity into a kind of schlock horror.” Jennifer Higgie, FRIEZE

“Beguiling hybrid… less a profile than a tribute to the feral spirit in which Carrington lived and worked.” RADIO TIMES

"Dazzling… A living work of art that leads us to the conclusion that we must not hand over our our female human animal to some 'half-arsed male'.” DIRTY MOVIES

Featured in Sight& Sound, BBC Radio London, Resonance FM, TANK and Frieze.

Executive Producer: Jacqui Davies
Produced by: Sam Dobbyn, Josh Appignanesi
Funded by Arts Council England

Featuring new music by OMD, Tearist, and a score by Andy Cooke, appearances from the Volksbuhne's Marc Hosemann, Patrick O'Kane (Game of Thrones) and Angus Wright (Peepshow), and cameos from cultural figures like Marina Warner, Juliet Jacques, Stewart Home, Adam Thirlwell and Tom McCarthy, Female Human Animal also pays homage to its guiding feminist spirit, the iconic Leonora Carrington.

www.femalehumananimal.com