FUNNY BIRDS, France/Belgium, 2024. Starring Catherine Deneuve, Andrea Riseborough, Morgan Saylor. Directed by Hanna Ladoul, Marco La Via. 97 minutes. Rated M (Coarse language and drug use.)
Funny Birds is a funny title – funny with humour, but also funny peculiar. Does it refer to the chickens that Laura (Riseborough) has rescued after they are too old for the big chicken runs and fosters them, collecting the eggs and marketing them with her own brand? Or does it refer to Laura herself, her young daughter Charlie (Saylor), who is at college and comes back to work with and look after her mother who has become ill?
And then there is the presence of Catherine Deneuve as Solange. And she is a very welcome presence. We remember that Deneuve (79 during filming) has been headlining films since 1964. This is not generally the kind of film that she appears in. It is a small film, quiet, a focus on women and empathy for them, and a role in which she can enjoy herself, a character who was at home in the 1960s but is still at home in the 2020s. In many ways she is quite a funny bird.
In fact this American story about a chicken farm in New Jersey, US, is a French/Belgian co-production, filmed in Europe, but in English language.
The plot is straightforward; Laura, who owns a chicken farm, becomes ill and her daughter Charlie comes home to stay with her. There are two sympathetic neighbours who help with the distribution of the eggs. The main complication, however, is an epidemic of bird flu.
Solange is an unexpected addition to the family. She had abandoned Laura when she was very young. But, Solange enters into the life of the farm. It is fascinating to see Deneuve out there with the chickens, working in the garden, gradually bonding with small detail with her daughter and granddaughter plus a whole lot of those New Age traditions, including medicinal cannabis.
One could say that there is no major reason for seeing Funny Birds but, should you come across it, and are interested in a sympathetic/ empathetic focus on the story on three generations of women, it is enjoyable.
Kismet
Released 22 May