Is it sick to call Hen finger-lickin’ good? This stunningly original survival drama from Greek director György Pálfi finally gives audiences an answer to the proverbial riddle about why the chicken crossed the road. One trusty hen bravely strides across multiple lanes of traffic in search of freedom. But she also traverses fields, escapes imprisonment, and endures perilous rides that even humans don’t survive. This is one resilient chick.
The titular hen performs a jail break worthy of Roofman when one of the hands in the factory farm decides that nobody will want to buy a dark brown chicken. He plucks the hen for his wife to make a fine soup, but our valiant bird flees the coop. What ensues is among the most original adventures in years.
Hen offers a cinematic sibling to this year’s Oscar winner Flow with its (mostly) dialogue free story driven by an animal’s quest to survive. But where Flow uses fanciful animation to endear audiences to the story of the heroic little cat, Hen performs a jaw-dropping feat of live action filmmaking. Yes, the birds are real here with eight of them joining forces to create a truly captivating and expressive performance.
Pálfi reportedly draws upon the respective strengths of each chicken as one bird supposedly runs better than the others do, while another hen excels at a good close-up. Others perhaps take flapping duty or pecking time. They jointly give a demanding physical performance while doing all their own stunts.
Together, though, these hens create the chicken’s drive and emotions without ever anthropomorphizing the bird. These chickens perform tremendous wide-eyed reaction shots with their inquisitive eyes. Full credit also belongs to film editor Lehmhényi Réka for unifying these performances so seamlessly and to cinematographer Giorgos Karvelas for scurrying alongside the hens and meeting them at eye level. One can only imagine the difficulty of sifting through a hen’s takes!
As the bird scurries around, evading foxes and finding love, Hen sustains itself relatively well for a chase-driven film with minimal dialogue. It’s not quite as propulsive emotionally or narratively as Flow, and comparisons seem inevitable, but Pálfi expands the themes by intersecting the hen’s journey with human characters. A cranky Greek restaurant owner (Ioannis Kokiasmenos) takes the hen under his wing. She pesters him incessantly with her constant escape plans, which are constantly thwarted by her short attention span.
The humans add some intermittent dialogue, too, as the hen observes the strange characters coming and going at all hours of the night. Her journey extends to the global migration crisis, which finds echoes in her own quest for freedom, and human trafficking in the criminal underworld. Some grisly images, including a violent rape or two in the chicken coop might ruffle some feathers, though, so audiences should be warned that Hen isn’t as kid-friendly as Flow. It’s surprisingly mature, which make the light touch of the direction especially effective.
Hen ambitiously spreads its wings. It’s a delightfully original work, pulled off by sheer invention and an affinity for animals that might have you rethinking the next order of extra crispy thighs
Hen screened as part of the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.
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