Skip to main content
Misericordia film image; a mom checks on her son while he sleeps

Misericordia

Miséricorde

Panorama

This event has passed

Writer-director Alain Guiraudie (Stranger By the Lake) serves up a twisted tale of seduction set in the picturesque French countryside. Returning to beautiful Saint-Martial for the funeral of his former boss, Jérémie (Félix Kysyl) becomes the object of attraction for widow Martine (Catherine Frot). The situation greatly displeases Martine’s son Vincent (Jean-Baptiste Durand), and soon enough there is bloodshed in the woods. Jérémie then finds himself contending with the attention of the police and the amorous intentions of the local abbot (Jacques Develay)…

Edgy, eccentric, and unapologetically queer, Misericordia is also notable for the daring way it blurs boundaries: between maternal love and sexual desire, between violent animosity and same-sex attraction, between natural charisma and crafty calculation. Along with suspense and surprise, Guiraudie generates a subtle, slowly escalating humour; the shift from menace to comedy is executed with wonderful grace. In its movement from the bedroom to the confession booth and back, this film provides a discomfiting, darkly amusing take on human psychology.

 

Community Partner

Director
Cast

Félix Kysyl, Catherine Frot

Credits
Country of Origin

France/Spain/Portugal

Year

2024

Language

In French with English subtitles

Film Contact
Links
18+
103 min
Comedy Drama LGBTQIA2S+
A Cg Cinéma, Scala Films, Arte France Cinéma, Andergraun, Films, Rosa Filmes

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits & Director

Producer

Charles Gillibert

Screenwriter

Alain Guiraudie

Cinematography

Claire Mathon

Editor

Jean-Christophe Hym

Production Design

Emmanuelle Duplay

Original Music

Marc Verdaguer

Alain Guiraudie headshot; Misericordia director

Alain Guiraudie

Alain Guiraudie is a French filmmaker acclaimed known for films like The King of Escape (2009) and Staying Vertical (2016). Guiraudie has garnered critical praise for his exploration of sexuality and human desire. His most notable film, Stranger by the Lake (2013), won the Queer Palm and Best Director Award at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

Filmography: No Rest for the Braves (2003); Time Has Come (2005); The King of Escape (2009); Stranger by The Lake (2013); Staying Vertical (2016); Nobody’ Hero (2021)

Photo by Helene Bamberger

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

21st Century Classics Audience Choice: Parasite

Dir. Bong Joon-ho
132 min

South Korean master filmmaker Bong Joon-ho delivers an unpredictable comic suspense thriller with his Palme d'Or and Academy Award-winning film, Parasite.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

School of Rock

Dir. Richard Linklater
108 min

With not one, but two new Richard Linklater movies at VIFF this year (Nouvelle Vague and Blue Moon), we thought it would be fun to revisit a choice cut from his rich back catalogue: the best Black and White movie ever made, School of Rock.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Boyhood

Dir. Richard Linklater
165 min

A dozen years in the making, Richard Linklater's masterpiece chronicles the evolution of a boy into a young man, from six to 18. It is the ultimate coming-of-age movie, and one of the most audacious cinematic feats of the decade.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

There Will Be Blood

Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
158 min

Paul Thomas Anderson's lacerating epic about the birth of the oil age: Daniel Day-Lewis is extraordinary as the prospector entirely consumed with his own enterprise, a Trumpian figure of naked self-assertion; Paul Dano the evangelist who may be his nemesis.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Godland

Dir. Hlynur Pálmason
143 min

In the late 19th century, a Danish Lutheran priest is dispatched to a far corner of Iceland where a devout farmer has seen fit to build a church. The physical journey is arduous. His spiritual journey, more taxing still.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

The Balconettes

Dir. Noémie Merlant
105 min

In this flamboyant black comedy set in Marseille during a heatwave, writer-director-star Noémie Merlant and her two besties have to cover up the unpleasant evidence of a disastrous night partying with the hunk across the way.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre