Au Fond des Bois ( Deep in the Woods)

Whether women has been raped is often a subject of dispute. Women are certainly very unpredictable creatures. Sometimes they like being violated but at other times, they'll get offended, especially after being stricken by the voice of conscience which would reassert itself in calmer moments either from her own superego or from pressure of those close to her. This is the subject of Deep In the Woods (Au fond des Bois) of Benoit Jacquot. 

As the film opens, we see a vagabond with dirty finger nails, disheveled hair and smoke-smeared teeth, Timothée (Nahuel Perez Biscayart) pretending to be a deaf mute begging for a meal at in front of a thick wooden door of a cottage which is the house of the local atheist doctor Dr. Hughes (Bernard Rouquette) shortly after he had spied upon his daughter Josephine (Nahuel Perez Biscayart) whilst she was on her way to the local chruch church. Out of sympathy, the doctor took him in and offered to let him eat with him, his daughter and his daughter's fiancé Paul (Mathieu Simonet). In the course of the meal, his eyes lands on Jospehine, performed certain sleight of hand tricks following which he produced a ring, claimed he could read the mind of others as if he was reading a book and then predicted that Jospephine would be joined to him.  She seemed fascinated by the looks of this unusual guest, who had got a pair of unusually large eyes. He began to work his magic on her: he hypnotized her, caused her body to become rigid and to move as if she were a puppet. But back in 1865, hypnotism not yet known. It was then called "magnetism".

As the film develops, we see how the girl followed the tramp around, how he tortured her, how she made love with him, how they stuck together through thick and thin as they wandered in the lush green of the southern French countryside looking for food and shelter and how they found delight in the beauty of nature until the wound in the vagabond's hand which he cut so that his blood might fuse with hers festers and the girl has to call in the assistance of a local apothecaire. The matter was reported to the authorities, a warrant for the arrest of the young man was issued and eventually an inquiry was held in which both of them gave evidence on whether Josephine followed him around with her own freewill or was abducted and violated against her consent.

However although Josephine initially replied that the man did not use any force upon her except the force of his eyes, she later retracted and said she was taken away from her father's home against her will. At the end of the film she was married to her fiancé Paul but asked to see for once and for the last time her former lover and bewitcher who on her testimony was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment. Was the woman suffering merely from boredom and looking for adventure? Did she have unfulfilled but repressed sexual urges which the wild vagabond satisfied?  In the course of their long journey across the countryside, there would certainly be plenty of occasions when she could have fled had she wanted to. Was she the  subject of a magic spell? The truth will never be known.

The story is purportedly based on a real incident recorded in French legal history. Whatever the credibility of the story, the acting is credible and the cinematic work on the beautiful Ardeche region of southern France is breathtaking. I'd give it a 2B.