Deep in the Woods

In 1865 Timothee, a wanderer, arrives in a village in southern France pretending he is deaf and mute. He is struck by the beauty of young woman, Josephine, and asks for hospitality at the house of Dr Hughes, her father. At dinner, he makes strange tricks giving Josephine a weird reaction. The next day, he comes back when she is alone and makes her fall in a state of hypnotic lethargy before taking advantage of her. Overwhelmed by his powerful hypnotic gift, she follows him even though she seems to be disgusted and afraid of him. He takes her deep in the woods and continues to abuse her until he is arrested and trialed. But how did Josephine accept to follow him? “Beautifully scored and photographed, and featuring feral performances by Isild Le Besco and Nahuel Perez Biscayart, DEEP IN THE WOODS casts a disquieting spell. Amidst the carefully ordered world of nineteenth-century France, the film is fascinated with the sexual and subconscious, plumbing the uncharted depths of human desire and the complex relationship between eros and the id.” Piers Handling, Toronto FF