Ani­mals

From Desiree Akhavan’s Appro­pri­ate Behav­iour to Phoebe Waller- Bridge’s Fleabag, it’s more accept­able than ever to be a nasty woman in pop­u­lar cul­ture. They sleep with who­ev­er they want, they drink until they puke, they take mind-alter­ing sub­stances on a week­night and down a Beroc­ca in the morn­ing while scrub­bing their faces and leg­ging it into work.

For years women have been assured they can have it all, and for mil­len­ni­als, it’s less about hav­ing a hus­band, kids and career, it’s about liv­ing a lit­tle while we’re young.

Cer­tain­ly that’s the case in Sophie Hyde’s Ani­mals, which fol­lows two women-in-progress around Dublin. Lau­ra (Hol­l­i­day Grainger) and Tyler (Alia Shawkat) are room­mates and best friends, exist­ing in a mutu­al state of folie à deux as they drink, dance and scream their way across the city, much to the cha­grin of Laura’s patient fam­i­ly, includ­ing her preg­nant sister.

Lau­ra har­bours dreams of becom­ing a nov­el­ist, but lacks the dis­ci­pline and cre­ative ener­gy, eas­i­ly con­vinced by Tyler to join her MDMA-fuelled escapades. Things start to change when she meets clas­si­cal pianist Jim (Fra Free), but the free­wheel­ing romance at the film’s core belongs very much to its leads.

While Hyde’s exam­i­na­tion of that tricky state of flux between grow­ing up and grow­ing old is acute­ly observed and beau­ti­ful­ly filmed, it’s worth not­ing that Lau­ra and Tyler live charmed lives. Tyler, although estranged from her fam­i­ly in Amer­i­ca, is well-off, and Lau­ra doesn’t seem par­tic­u­lar­ly both­ered when fired from her job. Their prob­lems are those reserved for the com­fort­able, and often quite of their own making.

The chem­istry between Grainger and Shawkat is pal­pa­ble, but a trite­ness to the film’s nar­ra­tive means their fire­crack­er chem­istry even­tu­al­ly los­es its warmth. We’re yet to see the nasty women who bal­ance their free-spir­it­ed hijinks with pur­suit of their goals.