This debut feature from co-writer/director Sofia Alaoui is a mystery – enigmatic and abstract.

Alaoui uses simple effects – slow-mo, dissolves, a flash of what looks like the aurora borealis – with great skill to communicate the uncanny.

By the end, Animalia is more Terrence Malick than apocalyptic... How satisfying that feels is a matter of personal taste, but this is undoubtedly an intriguing, eccentric and distinctive debut.

Opaque in a way that will frustrate some, depicting an alien invasion that is spiritual rather than physical, Animalia is a somewhat alluring rumination on privilege and religion through a woman’s journey.