The Untamed

I went in to this film thinking I was going to a different film (one of he hazards of a film festival) so had no idea what to expect. It was a bit strange to be presented with a near naked young woman (Veronica) having very satisfying sex with what looked like a python before the opening credits!

This is a Mexican movie, and I guess it could be said to be magical realism. For the most part, it was a very real domestic drama: Ale and Angel have a couple of kids and have a normal sort of relationship. Except that Angel is having a bit of a fling with her brother, Fabian, while presenting as very gay-unfriendly. Fabian is a nurse - it is through his work that he meets Veronica - they both confess to not having many friends, and so Veronica and Ale meet and become close (but not in the way that Angel and Fabian are). Ale finds lots of texts between Angel and Fabian, so when Fabian is found in a very near dead state, she accuses Angel and he's off to jail.

But there's also an older (and odder) couple who live in a cabin in the bush - Sr Vega and Marta: this is where Veronica came in the opening scene. It turns out a meteor struck near their cabin, and it has caused all the nearby animals to give full reign to their most basic primal instincts - cut to a crater full of various animals rutting. This incident somehow created a mutant or alien which has taken up residence in the Vegas' cabin - it has multiple appendages about the size of a python, loves to have sex with humans, is very satisfying but gets bored. Veronica has both Fabian and then Ale visit: she at least has a great time! The idea is that with "it", people's most primitive desires can be fulfilled - but at its whimsy it seems. When her fake homophobic husband is released from jail (and in the one funny scene in the movie, accidentally shoots himself) where better to bring him?

The French trailer is less discreet than the English one, gives a better sense of the movie: