Valéry Carnoy's striking but dramatically unfocused film 'Wild Foxes' follows Camille, a tough young boxer at a French sports boarding school, as he experiences a mysterious crisis of confidence that threatens his athletic career. The film, set at INSEP in the Bois de Vincennes outside Paris, explores Camille's sudden psychosomatic arm pain and his growing obsession with foxes, which he feeds with stolen meat from the school kitchen.
Camille, played by Samuel Kirchner, is a brilliant boxer from a broken home, on the verge of national greatness. His best friend Matteo (Fayçal Anaflous) is also a boxer, but his rule-breaking puts him at risk of expulsion. Camille's strange enthusiasm for attracting foxes in the surrounding woodland leads to a terrible accident, from which he escapes with only a scar. However, he becomes morbidly fixated on the pain in his arm, which prevents him from boxing properly, much to the rage of his coach and teammates.
Camille also develops a liking for fellow pupil Yas (Anna Heckel), a taekwondo student who secretly plays the trumpet in the woods. Her unacknowledged talent mirrors Camille's own hidden doubts. The film questions whether Camille's arm injury and distractions reveal his fragility and lead him to realise there is more to life than boxing. His coach, however, sees it as a catastrophic lapse in discipline, arguing that boxing is Camille's only path to success as a working-class kid.
While the film brims with unsynchronised ideas and images, and its climactic confrontation and resolution do not quite work, the physicality and performances of the young cast are undeniable. The acting and energy of Camille and his crew deliver a real punch, making 'Wild Foxes' a compelling if flawed drama.
