TIFF’s Platform section is often the most unpredictable part of the festival. Designed to showcase bold and visionary works, it is where the synopses always sound the most intriguing, and can shine with originality, yet can just as easily collapse in execution. At their best, you walk out having seen something unlike anything before, captivated by inventive execution. Their biggest recent success, Sound of Metal, went on to win multiple Oscars. But there are also titles like last year’s Daniela Forever and Pedro Páramo that drown in indulgence and become some of the hardest screenings of the festival to sit through. Hen, thankfully, belongs to the first group.
Pitched at the Venice Production Bridge after initial European support fell through, György Pálfi’s long-awaited return after nearly a decade away feels like the essence of what this section should represent. Known for the inventive Hukkle and the shocking Taxidermia, Pálfi has always sought unusual ways of storytelling. With Hen, he explores complicity and human greed through the wide eyes of the world’s most punctual bird. Drawing from the structure of Greek tragedy, we watch the hen go from birth to repeated escape attempts, while a human story involving trafficking and complicity unfolds in the background. It is live-action Chicken Run meets The Zone of Interest.
Our titular hen is a fantastic animal protagonist, worthy of mention alongside Babe, Uggie from The Artist, and Lassie. She is full of personality, funny, surprising, strong, and resilient. She faces jealous neighbors, an ill-fated romance, and a deadly encounter with a fox, yet remains clever, courageous, and determined to become a mother no matter the cost. Eight hens were trained for the role, each for a different function, and the result feels extremely authentic and unpredictable in ways CGI could never replicate.
Beyond the hen’s playful but always entertaining antics, there is a Zone of Interest like thread with an older man who allows his courtyard to become a place of exploitation, slowly suffocating what used to be a restaurant. At first the film keeps this in the background, dropping hints, until by the third act it becomes the main story. The captivity of the hen mirrors the state of this restaurant owner, a man who stayed quiet for too long and now finds himself trapped by his own choices. The film finds touching and surprising moments in his bond with the animal, especially in his admiration for her resistance, which makes him grow tired of his own silence.
Featuring genuine shockers (the film is not afraid to go dark) and scenes that will make your jaw drop and wonder how they were ever captured, Hen emerges as both a wildly entertaining experience and a sharp provocation. Pálfi has returned with one of his boldest works, one that manages to be equally fun while also leaving you with something to think about.
This is part of Reviews On Reels TIFF 2025 Coverage. Due to the hectic rhythm of a film festival, it may be tweaked in the future. Still courtesy of TIFF.
- 1. Sentimental Value
- 2. Hamnet
- 3. Blue Moon
- 4. Sirāt
- 5. The Testament of Ann Lee
- 10. Hen
- Where to watch
- Coming soon
- Where to watch
- Coming soon
Play trailer
- Original title
- Κότα
- Director
- György Pálfi
- Cast
- Yannis Kokiasmenos, Maria Diakopanagiotou, Argyris Pandazaras, Antonis Kafetzopoulos, Antonis Tsiotsiopoulos, Machmout Bamerni, Chronis Barbarian, Nikos Kattis
- Screenwriter
- György Pálfi, Zsófia Ruttkay
- Composer
- Szabolcs Szõke
- Cinematography
- Giorgos Karvelas
- Country
- Language
- Greek