Ferine review: motherhood begets beastly Corsini horror
Andrea Corsini’s debut feature Ferine, expanded from his 2019 short, joins a wave of pregnancy and motherhood horror with a creature-transformation twist. This ferine review motherhood begets angle finds an upscale Italian thriller that recently premiered at Fantasia—stylish, violent, and only partly persuasive as art-horror.
According to Variety’s review, the film mingles a paranoiac, violent take on maternity themes with a creature-transformation conceit akin to Cat People. Like Paul Schrader’s 1982 remake, it is an upscale genre piece that wears its art ambitions openly, opening with a Schopenhauer quotation.
Key Takeaways
- Ferine is Andrea Corsini’s first feature, expanded from his 2019 short of the same name.
- Carolyn Bracken stars as Irina, a wealthy outsider in Italy undone by lost and found maternity.
- The story pairs surrogacy, adoption, and a roaming exotic cat with body-horror appetite.
- Variety praises late-film suspense and craft while criticizing heavy-handed metaphors and cryptic writing.
- The 106-minute Italian production recently bowed internationally at Fantasia.
What is Ferine about and why does it matter?
Irina, also called Irene (Carolyn Bracken of Oddity), is an apparent artist and collector drawn back to an estranged mother’s terrain by a funeral. Having suffered numerous prior miscarriages, she turns to surrogacy, planning to adopt the baby about to be born to local Anita (Uliana Kuzmina).
When Anita panics after birth about surrendering the child, Irina absconds with the newborn from a private hospital at night. A prologue has already shown a trafficked wild animal escaping; Irina’s chauffeur collides with it in the woods. Mother and baby survive the crash, but the beast claims another victim—and Irina spirals, developing a predatory carnivorous streak as if invaded by the spirit of the exotic cat that consumed “her” child.
For readers tracking new genre titles in our Streaming & TV Alerts hub, Ferine sits in the current mini-explosion of pregnancy and motherhood horror that Variety ties back to rising anxieties—decades after Rosemary’s Baby broke the ice.
Does the ferine review motherhood begets story actually land?
Variety finds the muddled tale of a wealthy foreigner in Italy going feral “longer on rather lofty style than substance for some time,” yet says it ultimately works up enough perverse froth to attract fans of screen fantasy packaged more sophisticatedly than the pulpy norm.
Corsini and Massimo Vavassori’s script is called needlessly cryptic, leaving Irina too abstract—are she and friend Rosa (Paola Lavini) lovers? Is Irina more painter or patron? The review also flags clumsy shock via meat and consumption, including a carcass-eviscerating gallery performance that reads like unintentional Eurotrash parody of decades-old “transgressive” art.
Suspense grows more effective past the one-hour mark once frostily authoritative Dama (Caroline Goodall)—whose illicit trade involves a rare escaped South American jaguar—takes narrative control. The last stretch of captivity psychodrama works well enough, even if the destination is unsurprising.
Who stars, and is Corsini’s debut worth seeking?
The cast also includes Elisabetta Caccamo as angelic tot Giulia, plus Marco Gambino, Fabrizio Odetto, Elodie Gay, and Ilario Calvo, in English and Italian dialogue. Variety notes elegant craft: Fabrizio La Palombara’s widescreen cinematography, Pino Donaggio’s lush score, and Carlotta Desmann’s posh design, including Irina’s striking Brutalist house.
Actors are “admirably committed,” but Variety concludes Ferine is an impressive first feature shadowed by a familiar flaw: the director seems to think he is crafting a singular masterpiece, and results are not brilliant or original enough to take themselves quite that seriously. Reviewed online July 23, 2026; running time 106 minutes.