MISERICORDE (MISERICORDIA) (France 2024) ****
Directed by Alain Giuraudie

Returning to Saint-Martial for his late boss's funeral, Jérémie's stay with widow Martine becomes entangled in a disappearance, a threatening neighbor, and an abbot's shady intentions.

MISERICORDE has the feel of a Claude Chabrol murder film in which the cat-and-mouse tale is mainly the mouse outwitting the cat with the aid of his cohorts.  The film is a prized twisted macabre tale with bouts of unexpected humour from the director of the 2014 gay hit L’CONNU DU LAC (Stranger by the Lake), this one with the fabulous Catherine Frot as a widow. who takes in Jérémie (Félix Kysyl) as a lodger whose sensual presence is immediately and progressively destabilizing to everyone around him.  Martine (Catherine Frot) happens to be the mother of his childhood friend, the brutish Vincent (Jean-Baptiste Durand).

Catherine Frot is always a pleasure to watch, she being one of my personal favourite French actresses.   Newcomer Félix Kysyl is also marvellous as the quietly sexy troublemaker, who has fate both work against and for him, depending on how one looks at it.  The twists of fate and unexpected bouts of humour are what make director Giuraudie's film so entertaining. MISERICORDIA means Mercy in English.

The film demonstrates that actual fake rain need not be used in a scene that involves it.  One scene has the sound of heavy rain, followed by a scene with Jeremie drenched from head to foot.  But there is no rain seen in the background.  Yet, the scene is credible enough for the audience to believe that it rained.

Subtlety in the script also provides additional pleasure in the film.  "We are all entitled to a private life," says the priest at one point in the film, his homosexuality hidden and never practiced till then.

The duo’s interactions are terse and laden with resentment but clearly erotically charged.  When a fight goes awry, Misericordia swerves into noir territory with absurdist undertones, and an ensuing investigation spirals around a loner neighbour, ineffectual gendarmes, and a nosy country priest — seemingly the only inhabitants in this dewy, mountainous village perpetually bathed in twilight.  No sex scenes but there are two with full penises on display, that are both erotic and hilarious.  MISEROCORDE, extremely well plotted and executed, is a total wicked delight!

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