Unlike 2013’s Stranger By The Lake (which made The Queer Review’s LGBTQ+ Top Ten Films of the Decade 2010-2019), queer French filmmaker Alain Guiraudie’s latest feature Misericordia (Miséricorde)—receiving its Canadian premiere at TIFF—contains no sex scenes (though there is some nudity and a flash of an erect penis which, in the context of the scene, received a big laugh at the festival’s press screening). Despite that lack of explicit sex, the film throbs with an enticing sexual tension.
When Jérémie (Félix Kysyl) returns to the isolated village where he grew up in rural France for the first time in years and is reunited with a childhood friend, the hypermasculine Vincent (Jean-Baptiste Durand), as the two move closer to greet each other it feels like they might start making out, or punch each other. In any case, the dynamics of their relationship and obviously rich history between them is immediately intriguing, and remains so. When they eventually do begin to breathlessly wrestle one another in the middle of a forest that has a cruising ground vibe, it isn’t only homoerotic, it feels like they are violently fucking.
Vincent’s father has just passed away and Jérémie is there to pay his respects to his widow, Vincent’s mother Martine (a wonderful Catherine Frot), who is lonely and glad of the company. Jérémie, an out-of-work baker, invites himself to stay at Martine’s home indefinitely, sleeping in Vincent’s boyhood bedroom which is still decorated with posters of football players. It soon transpires that Jérémie was infatuated with Martine’s late husband, as we see him longingly admire a photograph of the man in his speedos and asks for the negative so he can make a copy. Vincent, however, suspects that Jérémie has eyes for his mother. The plot thickens further when Jérémie becomes entangled with Vincent’s drinking buddy Walter (an excellent David Ayala) and the village’s horny gay priest (a hilarious Jacques Develay).
While Jérémie’s agenda for staying in the village remains deliciously inscrutable, in Kysyl’s hands he is an utterly compelling character. Brilliantly paced, Guiraudie expertly sustains the suspense as the narrative takes some unexpected turns with his spare screenplay emphasizing what remains unspoken between characters. There is a strong strand of dark humour running throughout and the film is frequently laugh-out-loud funny.
The filmmaker is an expert at creating a distinct sense of place and Misericordia’s woodland setting is viscerally atmospheric, and looks stunning too thanks to cinematographer Claire Mathon and her striking autumnal palette. Guiraudie is a masterful filmmaker and this is a delightfully unpredictable watch.
By James Kleinmann
Misericordia (Miséricorde) received its Canadian premiere at the 49th Toronto International Film Festival and opens in US theaters on March 21st, 2025 from Janus Films.
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