Directed by Alain Guiraudie (France, Spain, and Portugal, 2024, 104 min.). French with English subtitles.

The tangled ambiguities of love, death, and desire remain fertile ground for Alain Guiraudie (Stranger by the Lake), who returns with Misericordia, a sharp and darkly funny thriller. Set in a misty, autumnal village in Guiraudie’s native Occitanie, the film follows Jérémie (Félix Kysyl), an out-of-work baker who drifts back to his hometown after the death of his former employer.

Long after the funeral, Jérémie lingers—gently insinuating himself into the life of his late boss’s family, from the warm-hearted widow (Catherine Frot) to the volatile son (Jean-Baptiste Durand), all while striking up a curiously warm rapport with a relentlessly upbeat local priest (Jacques Develay).

In Guiraudie’s disarmingly sensual and morally slippery world, violence and eroticism erupt without warning, and criminal impulses emerge as natural extensions of longing. With Misericordia, he once again upends genre expectations, crafting a deceptively quiet tale that simmers with menace, desire, and subversive wit.

“A welcome re-embrace of the streamlined murdery perversities of his terrific Stranger by the Lake, Alain Guiraudie gives [Cannes Film Festival] one of its darkly sparkling standouts.… there hasn’t been a more exaggeratedly eccentric vision of French provincialism since Bruno Dumont established his Li’l Quinquin universe.” —Variety

Watch the trailer.