By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.75 cats
Director: Alain Guiraudie
Starring: Catherine Frot | David Ayala | Félix Kysyl | Jacques Develay | Jean-Baptiste Durand
Original language title: Miséricorde
Year: 2025
Running time: 104
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32085997/reference/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_in_0_q_misericordia
Chris says: “Jérémie (Félix Kysyl) clearly belongs to an extended lineage of Alain Guiraudie protagonists: craggily handsome, somewhat sexually ambiguous, a laconic wanderer, an irritant to many who come into contact with him. However, unlike the others, he’s not as passive or seemingly befuddled—rather than letting everything happen to him, he takes a decisive action that carries real consequences for his surrounding community even if the person most deeply affected by it ends up being himself.
“Returning from the city of Toulouse to an isolated forest village for the funeral of a baker he once worked with, Jérémie’s invited to stay on by the baker’s wife, Martine (Catherine Frot), much to the consternation of her married son, Vincent (Jean-Baptiste Durand) and something approaching indifference (but not entirely) from neighbor Walter (David Ayala). It takes time to figure out how everyone knows each other with only traces of what their past dynamics were. About a half-hour in, Jérémie takes that decisive action; from there, the film turns into essentially a dark comedy as he repeatedly makes up stories about what happened, only for other characters to do the same including an older priest (Jacques Develay) whose motives to protect Jérémie are, shall we say, less than pure. It all becomes a sort of ‘Looney Tunes RASHOMON’, to borrow a phrase from Errol Morris’ 2010 documentary TABLOID.
“As usual with Guiraudie, the environment influences the tone (in this case, the autumnal hues of a forest that manages to seem both inviting and quietly menacing.) The film’s rhythms also develop organically with a heightened focus that looks like a course-corrective to the everything-and-kitchen-sink approach of his inferior last feature, NOBODY’S HERO (2022). While not as ingenuous as STAYING VERTICAL (2016), this is funny and surprising enough to render any claims of Hitchcockian influence irrelevant (if anything, it’s closest to an atypical film from that director like THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY.) In the end, it’s less important whether Jérémie gets away with what he’s done and more how it shifts our perceptions of those around him. Also, look up the meaning of the film’s Latin title and ponder whether or not it’s meant to be ironic. 4 cats.”
Michael responds: “While I didn’t enjoy the film quite as much as Chris, and it took a while to grow on me as it unfolded, I ended up liking it much more than expected. Having only seen his film STRANGER BY THE LAKE, which I was not a fan of, I was worried, at first, that this would follow suit. However, as the story unfolds and gets decidedly more and more wacky as it progresses (the pair of cops investigating a crime are reminiscent of characters in a Quentin Dupieux film) the more I grew to like it. Nice to see Catherine Frot last seen (by me, at least) in Lucas Belvaux’s inventive and compelling Trilogy. 3 1/2 cats.“