‘Wild Foxes’ review: Samuel Kircher lands a punch in school boxing drama

Dir/scr: Valery Carnoy. Belgium/France. 2025. 92mins

Samuel Kircher’s rising star status is confirmed by Wild Foxes, his performance as a troubled young boxer the main event in Valery Carnoy’s sharply observed debut feature. A boarding school for young sports stars provides a perfect setting to explore a swirl of issues around peer pressure, male friendship and the bruising expectations of masculinity. The timeliness of the subject matter and the thoughtfulness of the execution could attract arthouse audiences on the scale of those who sought out Charlene Favier’s Slalom (2020) or Elie Grappe’s Olga (2021).

Carnoy packs a lot into his compact, nuanced storytelling

A well-considered piece about boys being boys, Wild Foxes builds on the themes of Carnoy’s short Titan (2021) and marks him as a talent to watch. It also provides a demanding showcase for Kircher, a Cesar nominee for Most Promising Actor for Catherine Breillat’s Last Summer (2023) and star of fellow Directors Fortnight title The Girl In The Snow.

In Wild Foxes he plays Camille, a floppy-haired, easygoing young boxer destined for greatness. Disciplined and dedicated to training, he is a whirlwind in the ring, unleashing a flurry of blows as he dances, ducks and dives. He is much admired by his fellow boxers, especially best friend Matteo (Faycal Anaflous), another boarder at the school. Conroy captures all the boisterous energy and changing room banter of boys who feel unbeatable. Everything is physical as they slap, hug, fight and play. They also belong to a generation where nothing feels real unless it is shared on social media. Mixing handheld camerawork with phone camera footage and more traditional framing, Conroy and cinematographer Arnaud Guez make the film feel light on its feet. 

Camille has a sensitive side, leaving strings of raw meat tied up in the forest so he can watch foxes jump up to catch their treats. He is a pack animal but there is also something of the loner about him. Carnoy drops subtle hints of how Camille was attracted to boxing as a means of defence. His father might have been violent towards him.

Everything changes when Camille falls 10 metres down a steep cliff. Matteo rescues him, but the accident leaves Camille with physical injuries and mental scars. He is struck by an unfamiliar despondency, panic attacks and concerns about his ability to perform in the ring. His young friends seem to regard any sign of weakness in the same way a shark reacts to a trace of blood in the water.

Wild Foxes is very good at conveying the changing dynamics of the group. No longer top dog, Camille’s vulnerability leaves the others jockeying for position, disparaging his health struggles and starting to ease him out. Conroy gradually moves him to the edge of the frame. One of the bleakest moments comes when the blustering Pierre (Jef Jacobs) tells him he is no longer welcome to sit at their table in the communal dining room. The slights, the public humiliation, the casual cruelty of his peers start to take on the flavour of William Golding’s ’The Lord Of The Flies’ or Lindsay Anderson’s boarding school classic If…. There is a growing sense that only the fittest will survive in a space where empathy is a luxury that none seem willing to indulge.

Carnoy packs a lot into his compact, nuanced storytelling, including Camille’s attachment to trumpet-playing Taekwondo student Yas (Anna Heckel) and the fate of the foxes in the woods. He also draws sharp performances from a well-cast ensemble that includes stand-out work from Jacobs as arrogant joker Pierre and, particularly, Anaflous, who makes Matteo a sympathetic figure also suffering under the demands of male pride.