If you'd like to be totally surprised by the The Swarm film, I don't recommend you to watch the trailer beyond 0:55, because it starts to gives away the plot. If you don't mind seeing how the premise starts, it's otherwise a fine trailer.
La Nuée / The Swarm, movie (2020) - Watch the trailer on YouTube
Watch the trailer in French
video © Capricci Production & The Jokers Films & Arte France Cinéma & Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma
Article updated: 2023.10.28
The The Swarm (2020) is a family drama / horror film. The movie was reviewed by Kadmon.
Product: La Nuée / The Swarm, movie (2020)
Original title: La Nuée, English title: The Swarm
Series: -
Setting: contemporary alternate / fantasy Earth
Product type: Film, Genre: family drama / horror, Style: sci-fi, fantasy, horror, drama, family drama, killer locusts
Release: Premiere: 2020.08.29 (Angoulême Film Festival), Release: 2021.04.09
Reviewer: Kadmon, Type: Male, 40s, Preferences: Immersive, logical story, consistent setting, prefers surprises to spoilers, prefers establishing elements before referencing them
Watched: very recent (2021.12), first time
Rating: Average (2 out of 3 points), Enjoyment: Average (2 out of 3 points)
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This is my review of The Swarm, a family drama / horror movie from 2020. It's about a woman trying to increase the yield of her locust farm, by any means required. The The Swarm film has interesting parts, but I only recommend it to fans of the genre.
La Nuée / The Swarm, movie (2020)
image © Capricci Production & The Jokers Films & Arte France Cinéma & Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma
Review (spoiler-free) - The Swarm, movie (2020)
I didn’t know anything about The Swarm, before running into it. The cover and the tagline looked interesting. I didn’t watch the trailer.
The The Swarm movie is about a woman trying to increase the yield of her locust farm, by any means required.
The concept of the story is good. The family drama part is great, I really liked it. The locust farming aspect is interesting, but that’s the weakest part of the story in my opinion. The movie would have been probably better as a regular family drama, without the locusts, but then it’s true that I wouldn’t have watched it. The pacing is consistent, but it’s slow. There are hints of character arcs, but in the end, nothing changes. If you accept the premise, there are no major logical problems.
The beginning is a bit to slow, especially as - based on the premise - we already know what will happen. I really liked the build-up and introductions, but it could have been a bit shorter.
The cinematography is okay. The special effects are watchable. In the first scene we see some visually interesting shots, but the rest of the movie is visually typical.
We don’t really get to know the characters, even though there are not many of them, and we spend plenty of time watching them. We only get some basics of their dreams. The actors are good, they play their roles believably. The kids (Marie Narbonne and Raphael Romand) were really able to convey their characters, I liked them both.
The music (by Vincent Cahay) is not very noticeable, but good. It’s atmospheric and fits the movie.
The Swarm is a watchable family drama with horror elements, I think fans of the genre might enjoy it.
My experience
I was mostly satisfied with The Swarm (2020), although it could have been better.
Rating: Average (2 out of 3 points). The Swarm is a decently made film, that was a bit too long for the story it contained.
Enjoyment: Average (2 out of 3 points). The Swarm is had some good parts that I liked.
Rewatchability: Average. I think it's mostly the surprise of the story that makes you feel interested, but the family drama is good enough to get invested in these characters.
Chance of watching it again: Low. Even though I liked the plot and the actors, I don’t think I liked them enough to watch this again.
Chance of watching a sequel: I'd probably watch it.
La Nuée / The Swarm, movie (2020)
image © Capricci Production & The Jokers Films & Arte France Cinéma & Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma
Will you enjoy this?
If you like family drama movies, you might like The Swarm.
If you like action thriller movies (Arachnophobia), you might like the film, although there are not many action scenes or scary scenes in the The Swarm movie.
If you like farmer dramas, you might like The Swarm.
If you don't mind illogical elements in your movies, you can enjoy this.
If you hate subtitles, you are in luck, as Netflix made English dubbing.
If you prefer visuals over story, this movie is not very interesting visually.
If you are afraid of insects, avoid this movie.
Watching for plot points
If you are interested in locust farming horror stories, I think it's worth watching the The Swarm movie for the plot points.
Should you watch this on your own screen at home, or is it worth going to the cinema?
The visuals probably look better if you watch it in cinema, but I’m almost sure you’ll get a very similar experience.
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La Nuée / The Swarm, movie (2020)
image © Capricci Production & The Jokers Films & Arte France Cinéma & Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma
Review with spoilers - The Swarm, movie (2020)
I mostly liked the The Swarm movie, although I think it was a bit too slow.
Cover
The cover of the movie is okay, it looks promising enough, but it doesn't spoil the movie.
The trailer
The trailer is okay, although it does show some spoilers.
If you prefer spoilers, it's a great trailer for the The Swarm film. If you prefer to avoid spoilers, it could make the movie less fun for you.
Promise of the first scene
A woman is worried that her locusts are not breeding enough. She tries to find ways to increase their numbers. Based on the title, I suppose she’ll find some way to increase them to incredible numbers, that will start to cause problems.
Execution: Well, we got to that by the end, after a very long start. I consider the promise fulfilled, but it could have been done more efficiently.
Plot summary / Synopsis
There’s a woman (Suliane Brahim as Virginie Hébrard), working at her locust farm, in France. Their numbers are not growing as much as she expected. It’s a problem because the distributor (Vincent Deniard as Briand) needs more to buy them at the price they agreed on. She asks experts what to do. She is the single mother of two kids. She uses her teenage daughter (Marie Narbonne as Laura Hébrard) as a farm hand. Her young son (Raphael Romand as Gaston Hébrard) needs to go to soccer training, so she asks the daughter to bring the son.
The woman requests some money from a friend (Sofian Khammesas as Karim), who asks around his friends, who might be ready to buy locusts.
The family goes to the village, where the daughter starts to fight with a boy, who jokes about their father committing suicide. After they get home, the daughter bursts out that she hates living at the farm. The mother tells her that they could sell their equipment and start anew somewhere else if she wishes to.
The woman’s friend finds a buyer, a duck farmer, who’d take the locusts, but at a lower price than she expected. When she finds out that it was her friend paying for the locusts through the duck farmer, she gets so angry that she destroys the whole batch she wanted to sell. She starts to tear up her locust farm, when she slips, hits her head, and falls unconscious. When she wakes up, she finds locusts drinking up the blood from her wounds.
The woman talks to her friend, who says that he is sorry, and he helps her, because his own farm wouldn’t be there if it weren’t for the woman and her deceased husband. When she gets back to her farm, she finds the locusts invigorated and breeding. They are also attracted to her. She decides to get her bandages off, and feed the locusts from her wound. That night, the locust buzz so loudly, it disturbs the son. Later she finds that the locusts grew even bigger than usual.
She expands the locust farm with the help of her friend. From then on, she insists that they all have to wear protective clothing when entering the locust farm. In order to keep the swarm growing, she regularly feeds them her own blood.
The son takes some of the new batch of locusts to his terrarium, where the new ones eat his previous collection. The daughter is angry, because she were hoping they were selling the farm and move away.
The woman starts to sell the locusts to the duck farmer at a very low price. She buys animal blood from the money to feed the locusts.
A boy (Renan Prévot as Luc) from school visits the daughter, and asks her if they still about to move (probably hoping that they are not). This makes the girl so angry that she cuts the cover of one of the locust tents open, letting them fly away. The woman gets back to find their goat being eaten alive by the locusts. The son goes out to find the goat, as he really loved to play with her.
To make her kids happier, the woman decides to bring them to the beach, so they can have some fun. The son and daughter gets into the sea, but their mother doesn’t want to take her clothes off. The daughter gets a new scooter, and the son can get to the soccer camp. The woman celebrates with her friend, and they start kissing, but when the friend wants to undress her, she get scared, and goes away. The next day she keeps her distance from him, making him go away.
They don’t let her buy large amounts of blood without proper government registration, so she starts to use her own blood again. She also starts smoking.
When the dog of her neighbour wanders into her farm, the woman takes the dog and gives her to the locusts alive. She then kills a cow, and also feeds that to the locusts.
The son is having second thoughts about going to the soccer camp, but his sister insists that he goes, taking him to the bus. When she gets back home, the daughter finds their mother in the locust farm, feeding her own body to the locusts. The daughter runs away, and calls the friend of their mother to come by. The woman doesn’t want to talk, and the daughter doesn’t dare to tell the friend what she saw, just that there’s something wrong with the locusts.
The neighbour goes looking for his missing dog. He goes into one of the tents, and opens a sack of locusts. A while later, the friend decides to investigate. He happens to go to the same tent the neighbour went, and find his body being eaten. He decides that this is enough, and start to burn the tents. This lets the locusts get out and fly away. They start to eat the friend, while the daughter runs away to the lake, being chased by the swarm. The woman lures the swarm to herself, then goes into the water. This makes the whole swarm dive under the water and drown. The woman is injured, but she is alive.
The setting
The Swarm is set on contemporary alternate / fantasy Earth.
In this world, feeding animal blood to locusts make them murderous monsters.
La Nuée / The Swarm, movie (2020)
image © Capricci Production & The Jokers Films & Arte France Cinéma & Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma
The locusts
When the woman started to feed them blood, they started to thrive, and got bigger.
They are buzzing louder than the usual locust.
They are drawn to animals, and they start to eat them.
They don’t have survival instincts, they dive into water to pursue their prey.
Large bodies of water are lethal to them. When they touch the large body of water, they immediately die. Small amounts of water don’t bother them. They also drink the water.
The message of the story
I'm not sure there's one, beyond the usual “take the needs of your children seriously”, and “don’t pursue your goals blindly”.
The structure of the story
The scenes of the The Swarm film are played in sequence, following the same storyline.
There is no single viewpoint character.
It has the truncated arc of the usual dramatic structure, with a very long introduction, action, then a sudden ending without a proper resolution.
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Things I liked
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How does it compare to the other works of the creators?
I haven't seen anything else from the story writer and scripwriter (Jérôme Genevray), the other scripwriter (Franck Victor),or the director (Just Philippot).
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La Nuée / The Swarm, movie (2020)
image © Capricci Production & The Jokers Films & Arte France Cinéma & Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma
Analysis of the story - The Swarm, movie (2020)
I mostly liked the story, but the basic concept of the handling of the locust constantly caused problems that prevented me from totally enjoying The Swarm.
Problematic elements
The blood: The amount of blood she gives the swarm of locusts in the beginning is too small to be believable enough to change them.
Food regulations: I’m pretty sure there are regulations about feeding animals blood. There could be traces of antibiotics in it, or infections, so she would need to make sure it’s safe. At least they put it in the movie that there are regulations for buying large amounts of blood without registry.
The start of the action: The story really starts at 60 minutes, up to then, it’s just build-up. I’m pretty sure it could be edited down to 45 minutes or so.
Lucky coincidence: The friend goes to investigate the locusts into the same tent the neighbour did, out of the dozen or so tents.
Lack of survival instincts: The whole swarm of locusts just dive into the water to catch their prey. It doesn’t make much sense.
Water killing the locusts: The moment they touch the water, all the locusts just die immediately. It’s not how insects work. And it was not introduced previously that water would be fatal for them. It’s also more funny than dramatic.
Unanswered questions
- What will happen to the woman? Will she go to jail for killing or at least seriously injuring the neighbour and her friend?
- Is the neighbour alive?
- Is her friend alive?
- Did all of the locusts really die?
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Possibilities of improvement
There should be a way to trim the scenes, to make the movie shorter.
How it could have been better?
Let there be more blood even at the beginning. The dog wanders into the locust farm, and the insects suck him dry. Or the goat, or anything large enough to make it plausible to change the whole breed.
The story could be more focused. For example, if we leave the kid out, there’s not much change to the core plot, and the story could be a lot more tighter.
I’d also prefer if we’d get some reports that the locusts that got away, bit animals, or people.
A better way of killing off the swarm would be also required, as the laughable nature of the ending kind of killed the mood of the story for me.
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Behind the scenes
Thoughts about the reviews of others
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La Nuée / The Swarm, movie (2020)
image © Capricci Production & The Jokers Films & Arte France Cinéma & Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma
Uses for the film - The Swarm, movie (2020)
Plot
- There’s a person, who wants to make their livestock (locusts) grow faster.
- A person finds a way to increase the yield of their livestock, but this makes the animals dangerous to be around.
- Some dangerous animals get out of a farm, attacking people.
Scenes
- The locust farming scenes could be used to show locust farming.
Designs
Scenario ideas - Role-playing game scenario ideas
- An animal of a friend has gone missing. When you look around, there’s a farm for omnivore or carnivore animals (fish, locust, pig) nearby. If you investigate the place, you can find bones of animals, fed to them. The owner of the farm is obsessed with the animals, and will do anything to prevent someone reporting their deeds.
- There's a crazy scientist / wizard, intent on evolving his favourite species of animal to become the apex predator of the land. His experiments cause havoc on his neighbourhood.
Scenario ideas - Wargame scenario ideas
Blood locust farm: The fight takes place on a locust farm. When you set up the playing area, place some buildings, and locusts nests (tents or containers), that are filled with locusts. Tents can be damaged accidentally, containers need to be opened deliberately, to let the locusts out. The swarms will attack any units that is close to them. If a model enters a nest, and the model is not wearing protective gear, or not giving them food, the locusts will attack it. The buildings contain d6: 1-2: protective gear, 3-4: locust food, 5-6: nothing. The units can use the buildings to close themselves in. If the locusts don’t find any prey on the playing area for a full turn, they leave, flying away. If the nests get damaged, unless the whole thing is destroyed at once, some of the locusts will get away.
Hidden object: One or more player is looking for an object, hidden in one of the locust nests. A model needs to enter the locust nest to search the place. After spending an action, roll a d6. On a 1, the object is found, and the model took it.
Destroying the farm: One side wants to destroy the blood locust farm. They win the game if all of the nests are destroyed, and there’s no more locust swarms in the playing area. It’s a minor victory if they destroy more than half of the nests. If the other side wants to steal the breed, roll a d6: 1-3: it doesn’t matter, they just want to get rid of this specific farm; 4-6: they want to destroy all of the locusts, so they won’t let anyone take them away.
Stealing the breed: One side wants to get samples of all of the locust nests. They need to enter the locust nest, and spend an action to get the sample. The player wins if they get a sample from all of the nests. It’s a minor victory if they get samples from more than half of the nests.
Blood locusts: They have a hard time taking out a human, especially if there’s armour on them. They can’t take out people in full armour, even if some of them can get inside. They can’t penetrate futuristic full armour. It’s also hard to damage the locusts, but area attack weapons (fire, explosions) may hurt them. As they lose locusts from the swarm, their swarm size gets smaller. If a swarm takes down a prey, a a swarm that is one size larger than the prey is occupied with it. Unless you need those locusts in the game, you can take them off the playing area, as they won’t do anything else for the rest of the game. If you leave a model to be eaten by the locusts, then after the game you don’t need to check whether they’ve survived, because they didn’t. If you kill or repel the locusts on the model that fell, you can roll for survival normally.
Creature nest: The objective of the battle is near a creature (giant ant, blood locust, spider, wasp) nest. Whenever a model is near the objective, they swarm out to attack. Whenever a model is near the objective at the beginning of the turn, roll a d6, and that many tiny swarms will appear. If there is no model near objective at the end of the turn, they all disappear.
Swarming locusts: The whole playing area is swarming with locusts. They hinder line of sight, making it harder to aim. Place the swarms killed during the turn in a pool. At the beginning of the next turn, roll a d6 for each of them. On a 1, they enter the playing area again at one of the edges.
Rescue from the swarm: There are enclosed places on the playing area, with some people hiding inside, who have no protective gear. The player has to get to the building, clear the area around it, and get the people out of the playing area.
Large swarm (harder for the players): Decide on a swarm size of 2 to 5. When you roll the d6 for returning them, if you roll equal or under the swarm size, the swarm will return.
Miniatures - 1/50-1/60 (28-32mm scale)
Civilians: Human-sized (S3) modern (advanced) human female / male civilian.
Locust swarm: Tiny / Small / Human-sized / Large swarm of insects.
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Similar stories - The Swarm, movie (2020)
Short stories
Daphne du Maurier: The Birds (1952): Swarms of animals (birds) attack people.
George R. R. Martin: Sand Kings (1979): A man buys some insects, and feed them animals so they grow faster. They get out with disastrous consequences.
H. G. Wells: The Empire of the Ants (1905): An animal (ants) suddenly evolve, and turn against humans.
Novels
Arthur Herzog: The Swarm (1974): Swarms of animals (bees) attack people.
John Brosnan (as Harry Adam Knight): Carnosaur (1984): A man (scientist) breeds animals (dinosaurs) on a farm. They get out with disastrous consequences.
Movies
Arachnophobia (1990): Swarms of animals (spiders) attack people.
Bats (1999): A man (scientist) modifies animals (bats). They get out with disastrous consequences.
Birdemic: Shock and Terror (2010): Swarms of animals (birds) attack people.
Birds (1963): Swarms of animals (birds) attack people. Based on the The Birds short story.
Black Swarm (2007): A man (scientist) modifies animals (killer wasps). They get out with disastrous consequences.
Carnosaur (1993): A man (scientist) breeds modified animals (dinosaurs) on a farm. They get out with disastrous consequences. Adaptation of the Carnosaur novel.
El ataque de los pájaros / Beaks: The Movie (1987): Swarms of animals (birds) attack people.
Fangs (2001): A man (scientist) modifies animals (bats). They get out with disastrous consequences.
Frogs (1972): Swarms of animals (snakes, tarantulas, geckos, leeches, snapping turtles, frogs) attack people.
Kaw (2007): Swarms of animals (ravens) attack people.
Locusts (2005): A man (scientist) breeds modified animals (locusts) in a laboratory, that are resistant to toxins and they breed faster. They get out with disastrous consequences. They are defeated by the use of electric wires to fry them.
Locusts: The 8th Plague (2005): A man (scientist) breeds modified animals (locusts) in a laboratory. They get out with disastrous consequences, as the swarms attack people.
Legion of Fire: Killer Ants! (1998): Swarms of animals (army ants) attack people.
Phase IV (1974): An animal (ants) suddenly evolve, and turn against humans. Based on the The Empire of the Ants short story.
Squirm (1976): Swarms of animals (carnivorous worms) attack people.
Swarm (2007): Swarms of animals (bullet ants) attack people.
The Bees (1978): People (scientists) breed modified animals (bees) on a farm. They get out with disastrous consequences.
The Corpse Grinders (1971): Animals (cats) are fed human remains. They turn on humans as their source of food.
The Deadly Bees (1966): A man (lunatic) breeds modified animals (deadly bees) on a farm. He lets them out with disastrous consequences.
The Swarm (1978): Swarms of animals (bees) attack people. Based on the The Swarm novel.
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Frequently asked questions - The Swarm, movie (2020)
Will the The Swarm movie be available with English audio dub?
Yes, The Swarm is already available with English audio dub.
Is the The Swarm film based on a book or comics?
No, The Swarm is not based on either books or comics.
Is the The Swarm film a remake or reboot?
No, the The Swarm film is neither a remake nor a reboot.
Is there a post credit scene in The Swarm? Does The Swarm have end credit scenes?
No, there's no post credit scene in The Swarm.
Where can I see The Swarm? Where can I watch The Swarm online? Is The Swarm available on Netflix? Is The Swarm on Amazon?
As of 2022.01.19, The Swarm is probably only available on Netflix.
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Resources - The Swarm, movie (2020)
Official
Arte France Cinéma: The Swarm: Official article.
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma: The Swarm (in French): Official article.
Capricci Production: The Swarm (in French): Official article.
The Jokers Films: The Swarm (in French): Official article.
Information
IMDB: La nuée / The Swarm (2020): Database article.
The Swarm (2020 film): Database article.
Letterboxd: The Swarm 2020: Database article.
Rotten Tomatoes: The Swarm 2020: Database article.
Creation
: Concept art article.¤
Reviews with no spoilers - The Swarm film (2020)
: Review video about the The Swarm film with no spoilers.¤
https://www.leisurebyte.com/the-swarm-2020-review-netflix/
Reviews with spoilers - The Swarm film (2020)
: Review article of the The Swarm movie, with spoilers. Includes a very detailed plot summary.¤
Analysis - The Swarm movie (2020)
: Analysis video, explaining the finale of The Swarm.¤
https://thecinemaholic.com/the-swarm-ending-explained/
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Buying the product - The Swarm, movie (2020)
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Have you seen the The Swarm film? How do you like the movie? Would you recommend it to others? Do you know reviews or resources you'd like to add? What further thoughts do you have about it? Tell your opinion in the comments!
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