Only the Animals (2019) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Joseph discovers Evelyne's corpse behind his farmhouse and panics, fearing he'll be blamed for her death. Rather than contact authorities, he constructs a hay-bale maze in his barn to hide the body and spends days conversing with her imagined presence. His guilt stems from delaying notification of his mother's death, which he believes caused Evelyne to arrive at his farm in the first place, leading to whatever caused her demise.

Foreshadowing: Alice noticed Joseph seemed distracted and tense during their affair, foreshadowing his psychological deterioration.

• joseph bonnefille
• evelyne ducat
• hidden body
• barn
• hay maze

After Alice's affair with Joseph is exposed, Michel confronts Alice but refuses to press charges. His behavior becomes volatile, he drives off with a bloody nose and the next day vanishes entirely, leaving his empty car for Cedric and Alice to discover. His disappearance is driven by shame and likely his involvement with the Amandine scam, which eventually leads him to travel to Abidjan.

Foreshadowing: The blizzard warnings and reports of Evelyne's disappearance create an atmosphere of mounting dread that parallels Michel's internal collapse.

• michel farange
• disappearance
• alice affair
• cattle farm

Amandine is a fictional persona created by Armand, a young unemployed man in Abidjan, who poses as a young European woman to scam money from Michel online. Using fake photos and the alias, Armand extorts significant sums from Michel through the cyber scam, aided by the sorcerer Papa Sanou who blesses the operation. The scam draws Michel deeper into danger and ultimately forces a confrontation in Abidjan.

Foreshadowing: The prologue introduces Rolex seeking Papa Sanou, establishing the story's tone of fate and spiritual consequences that later surround Armand's fraudulent scheme.

• armand
• amandine
• scam
• abidjan
• cybercrime
• michel
• online deception

After hiding Evelyne's body in a sinkhole, Joseph experiences a complete psychological break. He has been conversing with an imagined Evelyne, believing she forgave him for delaying news of his mother's death. Unable to bear the guilt and isolation any longer, he makes a final act of fatal resolve, leaping into the sinkhole after her body, choosing death over living with his crime.

Foreshadowing: The dog barking when Evelyne's body is disturbed draws Cedric's suspicions, and Joseph shooting the dead dog signals his descent into desperate measures.

• joseph bonnefille
• suicide
• sinkhole
• evelyne death
• guilt

The final revelation exposes Guillaume Ducat, Evelyne's husband, as the hidden beneficiary behind the entire web of seduction and deception. Monique's mysterious benefactor, whom she planned to follow to France, is revealed to be Guillaume. This connection links the Abidjan cybercrime scheme to Evelyne's own world, showing how her secret life with Marion and others created a far-reaching network of manipulation that ultimately circles back to her husband.

Foreshadowing: Evelyne hints that her husband accepts her secrecy, hinting at his awareness and possible orchestration of her affairs.

• guillaume ducat
• evelyne husband
• monique
• scam
• reveal
• mastermind

Evelyne Ducat vanishes during a blizzard in the French highlands. While the exact cause of her death remains ambiguous, Joseph discovers her corpse behind his farmhouse, suggesting she died there, possibly from the harsh weather or another cause yet to be fully explained. Her disappearance triggers the investigation that exposes the interconnected lives of Alice, Joseph, Marion, and the Abidjan scammers.

Foreshadowing: Alice spots Evelyne's abandoned car on her way home from Joseph's farm, directly linking his property to Evelyne's fate.

• evelyne ducat
• missing woman
• disappearance
• death
• joseph farm

Michel appears at Marion's campsite trailer after she's been financially squeezed by Evelyne. He behaves seductively but calls Marion by the wrong name, Amandine, which triggers her. This moment reveals Michel's entanglement with the online scam and his confused mental state. The confrontation escalates, resulting in a bloody nose for Marion as Michel flees.

Foreshadowing: Marion's financial struggles after Evelyne's offer of money to end their affair set the stage for her vulnerability at the campsite.

• marion
• michel
• campsite
• attack
• amandine
• confrontation

Cedric Vigier, the local policeman, questions the Faranges about Evelyne's case but receives little cooperation. His investigation follows multiple threads: he visits Joseph's farm where the dog's strange behavior during a visitation raises his suspicions. He also travels to Sète to question Marion about her relationship with Evelyne. His persistence eventually connects the disparate characters, though the truth unfolds through the overlapping chapters from different perspectives.

Foreshadowing: The dog biting at Evelyne's disturbed body and Joseph's nervous reactions during Cedric's visit plant seeds of suspicion.

• cedric vigier
• police investigation
• evelyne case
• interrogation

Monique arrives in Abidjan with an expensive necklace and a startling revelation about her benefactor. She plans to move to France with this benefactor and attempts to recover the necklace. Her arrival creates a tense confrontation with Armand and sets up the final twist that reveals her mysterious benefactor is actually Guillaume Ducat, Evelyne's husband, connecting the Ivory Coast scam directly to the French narrative.

Foreshadowing: The sorcerer Papa Sanou's warning to Armand about returning money when fortunes turn foreshadows the dangerous consequences that Monique's arrival brings.

• monique
• necklace
• country house
• guillaume
• benefactor
• revelation

Evelyne initiates a passionate affair with Marion at a seaside restaurant in Sète. Their relationship deepens in Evelyne's hotel suite, where Evelyne hints her husband accepts her secrecy. Marion later pursues Evelyne to a country house, but Evelyne becomes evasive, eventually offering money to end the arrangement. Marion declines financially but cannot sustain the relationship emotionally, leading to its collapse under the weight of Evelyne's deceptions.

Foreshadowing: The warm, sunlit setting of Sète contrasts sharply with the cold, isolated farm environments, hinting at the different facets of Evelyne's double life.

• evelyne
• marion
• affair
• sète
• relationship
• lesbian

Papa Sanou is a sorcerer in Abidjan who blesses Armand's Amandine persona scam operation. He provides spiritual legitimacy to the fraudulent scheme and later demands 4000 Euros from Armand for continued favors, viewing it as spiritual punishment for withholding proceeds. His involvement represents the intersection of traditional spiritual practices with modern cybercrime, adding cultural depth to the narrative.

Foreshadowing: The opening prologue with Rolex seeking Papa Sanou establishes the theme of fate and spiritual consequences that surrounds the entire scam operation.

• papa sanou
• sorcerer
• scam
• blessing
• abidjan
• spiritual

The film uses a nonlinear structure with four distinct chapters, Alice, Joseph, Marion, and Amandine, to gradually reveal how seemingly separate lives are tragically intertwined. Each chapter provides a different perspective on the same events, exposing hidden connections and motivations. This storytelling approach builds suspense through delayed revelations, showing viewers how choices in one storyline cascade into consequences across others, ultimately exposing the web of lies binding all characters together.

Foreshadowing: The repeated scenes from different perspectives, such as Joseph discovering Evelyne's body, reward attentive viewers with deeper understanding of cause and effect.

• narrative structure
• nonlinear
• four chapters
• perspective
• interconnected stories