Director: Severin Fiala, Veronika Franz
Year: 2024
Country: Austria/Germany
Alternate Titles: Des Teufels Bad
Genre: Psychological
Plot:
Finally preparing to be married, a woman tries to acclimate to her new life with him in his remote village home with the rest of her new neighbors, but the trials and tribulations of adjusting to the situation cause her already-fragile sense of longing and compassion to slip into despair.
Review:
This was a generally fine take on this particular genre. One of the main aspects within this one is the impeccable look into the new life that she finds herself in which sets the film going. The type of intimate portrayal that goes on here involving how she tries to adjust and adapt to the rural lifestyle featured here with the communal activities including washing, fishing, and cooking being featured prominently alongside her other wifely duties while slowly succumbing to a severe form of depression due to the situation. The inability to determine the exact cause of her deteriorating mental state as there are countless instances of her growing despair coming as a result of the struggles with her inattentive husband, intrusive mother-in-law who doesn’t leave them alone, and the pressing desire to become a mother eluding her provides the backdrop to engage in the slipping mental state.
That becomes far more impactful later on when this one starts to highlight the lengths she’ll go to carry out her wishes for a semblance of sanity and happiness. As her attempts at finding that for herself fall on deaf ears ranging from undergoing bizarre parasite treatments to cleansing toxic parts from her blood, realizing the child she thought was abandoned in the woods was actually just misplaced by its mother, and the truth about who her husband really is, this all starts to weigh on her to the point that her slipping mental insanity starts to identify with a child killer who lived in the area. Having these scenes built through the resentment felt for trying to deal with her depressed mindset dragging her deeper into this state as well as how she comes to associate her perceived freedom with the dead killer eventually bringing the shocking finale into play which is quite cruel and graphic compared to everything else going on. These all manage to provide the film with a lot to like about it.
This one has a few issues bringing it down. The main drawback here is the absolutely draining and somewhat off-putting tempo that holds this one back into such an underwhelming setup that doesn’t make this one that much fun. This takes far too much time to get going and it's somewhat possible to lose interest in what’s going on with the life of the community taking centerstage without much in the way of overt action taking place due to the focus on setting up the lifestyle more than anything. It all takes place at such an overlong running time that there’s a real possibility that this one will lose interest and focus before it ends which is quite unfortunate with the ending being among the best parts here. Still, it’s the style and tempo attempted here that there’s a chance this one falls off before it can deliver a payoff. These are the issues present with this one.
Overview: ****/5
A really intriguing if somewhat overlong slow-burn folk horror piece, this one comes off quite nicely for what it is although there are some big flaws here that hold this back. Those with an interest in this kind of subject matter, appreciate the style attempted, or are fans of the creative crew will have a lot to like here while others turned off by these factors should heed caution,
Comments
Post a Comment