15/05/2026 - CANNES 2026: Marion Le Corroller lets loose in a completely unrestrained debut feature, colliding coming-of-age storytelling with gore fantasy and social satire

“If you feel fragile, I’d advise you to leave this department immediately… Believe me, this is not going to be an easy ride.” These words, spoken by the head of the emergency ward as she welcomes her new interns, set the tone with unmistakable clarity for the feverish Species by Marion Le Corroller, unveiled in the Midnight Screenings section of the 79th Cannes Film Festival.

By tackling the body-mutation genre with a frenzied ferocity steeped in dark humour, the French filmmaker follows — albeit on the still imperfect scale of a debut feature — in the seismic footsteps of her compatriot Coralie Fargeat (Revenge, The Substance), while blending in a touch of the socially caustic spirit of Albert Dupontel and the cartoonish tone of Crimewave by Sam Raimi, to cite just a few illustrious references within the family of unhinged fun coursing through the film, both narratively and visually.

“Still, you have to survive.” “Professor Gervier? He’s the devil!” Arriving to take up her first position as a young doctor at Charles Boyau Hospital, Margot — played by Mara Taquin, who is omnipresent in an intensely physical role — is quickly thrown into the atmosphere: a grim room with anti-suicide windows, a mattress and bed base stained with blood and an infernal work rhythm under the pressure of a merciless boss, played by Karin Viard, obsessed with performance (“pace!”), competition and excellence. This is enough to provoke nightmares through the fear of not measuring up, certainly — but perhaps not to the point of waking one day literally drenched in blood, suffering from what appears to be haematidrosis, a rare skin condition situated at the crossroads of stress and vascular psychopathology. And the situation — which Margot tries to conceal as best she can, except from her kind colleague Louis, played by Sami Outalbali — is not about to improve, far from it… But the young woman remembers a trader who had previously passed through the emergency ward suffering from the same affliction. She therefore decides to investigate, while France is gripped by a wave of unexplained violence committed by employees in their workplaces…

Operating at breakneck speed and stitching wounds against the clock, Species hurls its heroine into a highly specialised medical world — cardiac massage, the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, resuscitative thoracotomy, and more — fuelled by a constant infusion of gore (characters voluntarily tear off their skin like snakes shedding, others attempt murder with a power drill). Hyper-kinetic to the pulse of the soundtrack by Rob, the film illustrates its themes of physical, physiological and behavioural mutation through a mise-en-scène that allows itself every possible excess: high and low angles, off-kilter framing, visual and sonic distortions, etc. This stylistic frenzy makes it possible to glide over a few narrative shortcuts in a highly effective debut feature that should greatly entertain genre enthusiasts, while also seizing — in the name of youth — upon the ailments of contemporary society: mental health, the dangerous race for extreme productivity, fantasies of omnipotence and humiliation, and human guinea pigs. A serious subject treated with a generous splash of ketchup.

Species was produced by Windy Production and co-produced by Trésor Films, Anga Productions, France 2 Cinéma, Panache Productions, La Compagnie Cinématographique, the RTBF, Be tv and Proximus. WTFilms handles international sales.

(Translated from French)