Movie theater. “Bird”, a film by Andrea Arnold: a powerful social fable

This is, for sure, the first slap in the face of this new cinema season. Or even more…

Signed by the British director Andrea Arnold, Bird takes us to the heart of a southern English community ravaged by poverty, a universe dear to Ken Loach. Except that Andrea Arnold’s film will allow itself a very particular trip into the fantastic which, ultimately, gives it all its originality.

Meet Bird

In this filthy place, in the heart of a building covered in tags, lives a family that is, to say the least, dysfunctional.

Bug, the father, tries as best he can to raise some of his children, including a young teenager, Bailey, 12 years old. The numerous continuation of his family is in the hands of his first wife/partner, who lives in a scabrous manner to say the least…

Bug found true love and decided to remarry. The arrival of the new “mom” is not at all to Bailey’s liking. In a fit of anger, she runs away from the apartment towards the neighboring countryside. It is there that she will meet a totally lunar young man who carries goodness with him: Bird.

The latter is looking for his parents who, once upon a time, lived here. Bailey will help him in his quest. But Bird’s behavior is strange to say the least. What is his habit of always balancing on the edges of roofs? Like a bird…

Stroke of genius

This director’s stroke of genius is to combine, to perfection, the ambient violence and miserabilism with poetry and dreamlike escapes steeped in emotion.

She also digs the themes of social determinism, that of absent parents, of the transition from childhood to adolescence. If you are literally captivated by the services of Barry Keoghan (Bug, already noticed in The Banshees of Inisherin in 2023), and Franz Rogowski (Bird, applauded in 2020 in Ondine), two actors of incredible firepower, we should not forget the entire cast, including many amateurs, and in particular the very young Nykiya AdamsBailey in the form of a ball of revolt and energy.

Shot with a hand-held camera in the heart of a community affected by poverty, this powerful film, with its astonishing conclusion, is already rising very high in the filmography of 2025!

Robert PÉNAVAYRE

Birda film by Andrea Arnold. With: Barry Keoghan, Franz Rogowski, Nykiya Adams… Duration: 1h58. Genre: social chronicle

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