MISERICORDIA
A tantalizing thriller unfolds against a pastoral country setting in the latest from French auteur Alain Guiraudie (Stranger by the Lake). Jérémie returns to his hometown for the funeral of his beloved former boss, the village baker, and decides to stay for a few days with the man’s widow. Before long a threatening former rival, a mysterious disappearance, and an omnipresent priest turn Jérémie’s short visit into a gathering of the unexpected.
SHOWTIMES
MAY 9 | FRI
TBA
MAY 10 | SAT
TBA
MAY 11 | SUN
TBA
MAY 12 | MON
TBA
MAY 13 | TUE
TBA
MAY 14 | WED
TBA
MAY 15 | THU
TBA
SYNOPSIS
The teasingly entwined ambiguities of love and death continue to fascinate Alain Guiraudie (Stranger by the Lake), who returns with a sharp, sinister, yet slyly funny thriller. Set in an autumnal, woodsy village in his native region of Occitanie, his latest follows the meandering exploits of Jérémie (Félix Kysyl), an out-of-work baker who has drifted back to his hometown after the death of his beloved former boss, a bakery owner. Staying long after the funeral, the seemingly benign Jérémie begins to casually insinuate himself into his mentor’s family, including his kind-hearted widow (Catherine Frot) and venomously angry son (Jean-Baptiste Durand), while making an increasingly surprising—and ultimately beneficial—friendship with an oddly cheerful local priest (Jacques Develay). In Guiraudie’s quietly carnal world, violence and eroticism explode with little anticipation, and criminal behavior can seem like a natural extension of physical desire. The French director is at the top of his game in Misericordia, again upending all genre expectations. (Courtesy of NYFF).
Director
WITH
Run Time
1 hour, 42 minutes
Released
March 21, 2025
Distributed by
Sideshow | Janus Films
HEARING AND VISUAL ASSISTANCE
Assisted Listening
Subtitled / Open Captions
Country
France
SUBTITLES
French with English Subtitles
NOT RATED
Many of the films shown at The Ross are not rated due to the prohibitive cost of acquiring a rating from the Motion Picture Association of America. Consequently, as many of these films contain graphic content, viewer discretion is advised.
REVIEWS
“As in his award-winning Stranger by the Lake, the director’s penchant for blending queerness into Hitchcockian genre conventions keeps the story both compelling and enigmatic.”
“This masterful new film isn’t quite the shock Stranger by the Lake was for many, but there’s something cozy about “Misericordia” that, even in its most profane moments, leaves you with a knowing grin shared by the movie itself.”
“A superb thriller that employs common genre devices for a canny and caustic rumination on right and wrong, love and lust, virtue and vice.”