The first image of György Pálfi’sHen– an extended close-up on achicken’s cloaca as she lays an egg – might take the prize for the most arresting opening shot of 2025. It’s certainly asight most cinephiles won’t have seen before, and there’s plenty of them to come in the Greek director’s poultry picture, which take abird’s eye view from the very chick that hatches forth from that egg as she finds herself thrust into aworld beyond the factory farm floor. Differentiated from the fluffy yellow sea of other chicks by her unusual dark brown plumage, one she’s grown, the central chicken’s (whom for the sake of simplicity will henceforth be referred to as Hen) physical difference sees her separated from the flock when the worker transporting them announces his boss won’t take the odd one out. He puts Hen in the cab of his truck and declares his wife will make her into afine soup. Hen has otherideas.
Hen wants to live – and more than that, Hen longs for afamily of her own. She gazes longingly at aclutch of eggs, and is repeatedly thwarted in her attempts to hatch one of her own by various ancillary humans, who have their own drama going on. When Hen ends up at aremote homestead, snatches of conversation and an eventual harrowing confrontation reveal there’s something much darker going on – but what are the foibles of human beings to alonely chicken? Pálfi’s camera remains at eye-level with his feathered protagonist through all sorts of trials and tribulations, including aconfrontation with some pigeons and atense chase by afox.
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It’s afilm that could easily be dismissed as agimmick, following in the footsteps of festival faves Viktor Kossakovsky’sGunda, Jerzy Skolimowski’sEO and Andrea Arnold’sCowwhich similarly foreground the experiences of farmyard animals to tell awider story about humanity, but Pálfi’s sense of humour and dogged determination (eight chickens were trained for the central role) grantHensome clemency. Giorgos Karvelas’ vivid cinematography emphasises Hen’s plucky attitude and sense of curiosity about the world around her, but the film takes us to some surprisingly dark places as well, devolving into an unexpected third act where all hell breaks loose. It’s astrange, uniquely compelling film, empathetic enough to make any carnivore think twice about their chicken nuggets while never becoming ascreed about meat-eating or farming. Moreover, it’s agreat introduction of the irreverent eye of György Pálfi, who has just as unique aview on the world as his beloved hen heroine.