Direction: György Pálfi
Country: Hungary / Greece / Germany
Set in Greece and drawing on the foundations of ancient tragedy, Hen is an engrossing tale about a brave hen who endures numerous setbacks to protect her eggs. This relentless survivor, caught in the middle of a smuggling network, simply cannot escape her own nature.
Hungarian filmmaker György Pálfi—known for Hukkle (2002) and Taxidermia (2006)—co-wrote the screenplay with his frequent collaborator Zsófia Ruttkay and directed actor Yannis Kokiasmenos for the first time. Here, he interweaves the animal and human sides of the story with intelligence and fluidity, without forgetting to add surgical humor and raw pathos.
There’s a dazzling sense of artifice that makes Hen sound absurd in theory. In practice, however, it tells us a great deal about the human condition while celebrating a quest for freedom on almost every level. Pálfi used eight chickens for the central role, creating a resourcefully dynamic staging for an ambitious and successful film.
