Read

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains information about the ending of the film.

Anders Thomas Jensen laces hints about the ending twist of Men and Chicken (2015) throughout the film, but it’s not until you reach the film’s final moments and mentally revisit earlier scenes that these hints become clear. While story points, character moments, and directorial choices all foreshadow the end, we don’t see it coming—perhaps because the final revelation is so exceptionally odd. The film welcomes multiple screenings, as each viewing reveals more clues that deepen the story and support the final twisted revelation.

But it’s the reveal related to the characters themselves—that they were all created using stem cells from various farm animals—which most profoundly colors their behaviors in the 80 minutes prior.

We learn that Elias (Mads Mikkelsen), the oldest of the five brothers, who is obsessed with masturbation and semen and is thoroughly stubborn, is 11.4% bull, the half-brother of the cow living in the house who is regularly used for animal husbandry practices.

Gabriel (David Dencik), the most intelligent and thoughtful of the family, is 7.1% owl, historically regarded as a wise and intellectual creature. He also has the lowest animal percentage of the brothers, which explains his “normal” appearance compared to the rest.

Josef (Nicolas Bro) is 9.5% mouse. This explains his obsession with the family’s cheese, which he frequently sneaks in to eat while the others sleep.

Gregor (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) is 10% Labrador and has been the first of the three brothers to warm up to Elias and Gabriel—likely a nod to the natural companionship found in dogs.

Finally, Franz (Soren Malling) is 15% chicken. This makes him the family member with the highest proportion of animal genes (as well as its most physically deformed member).

The personality traits indicative of each character’s animal composition don’t make the eventual revelation obvious because there’s no way to know where the film is headed. Its tonal and narrative shifts color the film a million different ways, and the last place one expects the story to end up is with a reveal that the brothers are genetic human-animal hybrids cooked up in the house’s basement by their crazy (and apparently gifted) scientist of a father. But once we know this, it’s amusing to think back or re-watch the film for hints of the characters’ animal natures peeking through.

The final reveal likewise sparks the realization of subtexts in other humorous moments, such as the dinner scene in which the brothers fight over who gets which plate. Each plate has an image of an animal on it—the same animals we learn the brothers share genes with—and nobody wants to be the owl.

Also consider the early scene in which Gabriel and Franz are talking about Gabriel’s published works and philosophical beliefs. Gabriel says humans are constantly searching for their origin and their meaning in life and trying to understand their existence. As Gabriel gives this speech, Franz doesn’t seem to understand what he’s talking about. Gabriel says seeking these answers is the basic nature of all humans, yet Franz can’t comprehend. The moment is a subtle acknowledgment that Franz isn’t completely human—he’s the highest animal percentage of all the brothers, after all—and during the scene, two chickens are walking around on the shelf behind him.

Other direct curiosities emerge throughout the picture, such as the chicken with cow feet and the stork (that fabled bringer of life) with human legs. These clues are formed quietly but peppered throughout the wildly dark, humorous, and bizarre film world. The story’s rampant oddities keep the viewers from picking up on these clues during the first viewing, but on second viewing they add another layer to a film ripe with intriguing human monsters.

There was something rotten in Denmark all along, and the hidden complexity of the film’s story reveals itself as the secrets of the basement laboratory are unearthed.