Last updated on June 9, 2025
A film by Valery Carnoy
With: Samuel Kircher, Faycal Anaflous, Jef Jacobs, Anna Heckel, Jean-Baptiste Durand, Hassane Alili, Salahdine El Gharchi, Yoann Blanc, Guillaume Duhesme
At a sports boarding school, talented young boxer Camille narrowly survives a fatal accident, saved by his best friend Matteo. After a swift recovery, an inexplicable pain gradually takes hold of him, threatening his dreams of greatness and his relationship with the team. In the ring and in a man’s world, there’s no room for weakness.
Our rate: **
In 2024, the Paris Olympics brought to light issues that had long been relegated to the background, such as mental health in sport, championed in particular by gymnast Simone Biles. With Wild Foxes, presented at the Directors’ Fortnight, Valéry Carnoy tackles this issue by transposing it into the world of boxing. While this sport has often been filmed, it has rarely been seen through the prism of mental fragility.
Drawing on his own past as a boarding school athlete, Carnoy follows Camille, a promising young boxer who is traumatized after an accident that leaves him on the brink of death and is saved at the last minute by his best friend, Mattéo. An event that his school brushes aside, plunging the boy into a downward spiral, cast aside as soon as he no longer meets performance requirements.
Through tense staging, close-ups, and a sensitive look at male adolescence, Wild Foxes explores vulnerability, friendship, the weight of masculine injunctions, and the taboo of mental health in sports. The duo Samuel Kircher (who made his debut in Catherine Breillat‘s Last summer and was nominated for a César Award for Best Male Newcomer in 2024) and Fayçal Anaflous accurately embody this intimate and powerful story, which borders on documentary.
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