Named the best film of the year by the storied French film magazine Cahiers du Cinéma, Alain Guiraudie’s (Stranger by the Lake) kinky neo-noir is also a delectably tart Coen-esque comedy of manners.
Set in an autumnal, woodsy village, in Guiraudie’s native region of Occitanie, Misericordia follows the meandering exploits of Jérémie (Félix Kysyl), an out-of-work baker who drifts back to his hometown after the death of his beloved former boss. Jérémie extends his stay well after the funeral and methodically insinuates himself among the eccentric townsfolk—including his boss’ amenable widow, her suspicious son, a scruffy former acquaintance, and a nosy priest who skulks around the margins. Jérémie’s uncertain, and possibly unscrupulous, motives throw the sleepy town for a loop, and eventually warrant investigation by the local constable…
Guiraudie is one of France’s most distinctive working filmmakers and he is at the top of his game in this deliciously twisted, quietly carnal film. With a sustained erotic charge, Guiraudie confounds genre expectations and basks in his signature brand of pastoral mysticism.