I was a member of the animal welfare outfit The Gould League Of New South Wales before I was eight; I’ve saved more wounded birds, stray dogs and tailless lizards than I’ve had hot vegetarian dinners; my goldfish, now five years old, lives better than I do. So for me, of all people, to claim that the exquisitely-shot documentary Animals In Love goes too far in anthropomorphizing our furry/feathered/finned friends is quite a statement.
The latest in animal-inspired documentaries from the French film industry, Animals in Love was in no doubt inspired by the success (and, of course, the message...) of Luc Jacquet’s March Of The Penguins, the 2005 documentary that in, both French- and English-language versions, was a global success. 2001’s Winged Migration was another French factual film that celebrated the majesty of nature and it is that film’s cinematographer, Laurent Charbonnier, who takes debut-directing duties on Animals In Love.
A mystical, new-agey narration tops and tails the film, speaking of the core similarities between animals and humans. This is offered as proof that animals experience all the physical and emotional highs-and-lows of relationships. The film then presents evidence of several different species (mostly birds, actually) experiencing the different stages of your average human relationship. There is the preening – in preparation for the courtship – that sometimes leads to jealousy and rejection but mostly leads to fornication, resulting in parenthood and ultimately, the joy of child-rearing.
The tranquil music of Phillip Glass and the stunning images taken from all corners of the globe make this eminently watchable, but Animals in Love is a fantasy – but for one stolen egg, we never see the harsh realities of life in the wild; this would have provided the counterpoint to make real the claims of our wild animals’ emotional depth. If a deer can feel the joy of motherhood, show me it feeling the pangs of horror and loneliness when the fawn is taken by a wolf; mummy- and daddy-birds dutifully bring grubs to their hatchlings, but where is the scene where the parents eject the weakest of the brood so the strongest may survive?
That may seem harsh and, in fact, I completely agree that animals have an emotional connection to their environment, their young and themselves (read When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives Of Animals by Susan McCarthy for a more studied, scientific analysis of the belief). But Animals In Love is fatally lopsided and really only serves to fuel the skeptics’ notion that the animal liberation argument is all heart and no head.
