Miséricorde

A handsome, sexually ambiguous loner wreaks havoc on a picturesque French village in this delightfully twisted, darkly comic crime drama. Alain Guiraudie delivers a typically bold and surprising genre-bender brimming with dark secrets, queer eroticism and suppressed desires.

Alain Guiraudie (Stranger by the Lake, 2014; Staying Vertical, 2017) returns to IFFR with a deliciously perverse tale of repressed longing and small town corruption set in picturesque rural France.

Directionless loner Jérémie (Félix Kysyl) travels from Toulouse to the sleepy village where he grew up to attend the funeral of his former boss, a respected baker. The return of the handsome young man after a long absence causes a stir in this tiny community and he soon becomes an object of fascination for the baker’s widow (Catherine Frot), her fiery son (Jean-Baptiste Durand) and the local priest (Jacques Develay). When suppressed resentments violently explode, Jérémie faces a desperate situation – until he realises that his charm and good looks might offer the route to his salvation.

Miséricorde finds Guiraudie at his subversive best, blending elements of black comedy, crime drama and queer erotic thriller with wry confidence. Jérémie is a charismatic addition to the cinematic canon of amoral, sexually-ambiguous loners – from Tom Ripley to Pasolini’s Teorema to Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn. Miséricorde is further elevated by the prettiness of its setting; this twisted plot plays out amidst gorgeous woodland strewn with autumn leaves, wild mushrooms and dark secrets.

– Rachel Pronger

Trailer

• 

• 

• 

• 

•