So much average

Absolutely Fantastic

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

"Deep in the Woods" is presented entirely through short, fleeting scenes, giving the initial impression that you are watching a trailer of the movie, rather than the movie itself. Once you overcome this feeling, you settle in to watch a movie that you know isn't going to be generous in its exposition, so you'd better pay attention to these short scenes.The movie is about a mysterious tramp who enters the house of a 19th century French doctor and his beautiful daughter, played by Isild le Besco. He does magic tricks with the cutlery, and soon reveals a psychic hold over the daughter, Josephine, seemingly able to make her sick and well at his command. He also takes a strong sexual interest in her.Eventually they escape, her apparently under his spell, and submitting, perhaps not willingly, to frequent bouts of unerotic sex. After a while, she seems to change her mind in regards to this ugly, monobrow'd vagabond, and in a late sex scene where Josephine is on top, it feels like a vital turning point in their relationship.Nevertheless, the vagabond is captured and Josephine returned to her life at home. She has a baby. Is it Tomothee, the vagabond's? We don't get to find out.The aforenamed short scenes, combined with typically opaque performances from the leads, and obscure dialogue, keep us at a pretty safe distance from this one. When a police officer says, late in the movie, that a court case is no place for poems, but for the straight truth, we know how he feels. The movie is, ultimately, too lightweight to be engaging, and too distancing to make us much bother with puzzling over its mysteries.

It's like a Millet painting; you know, The Angelus or something, a bunch of decrepit peasants tilling the field, misery written on their faces. The French highlands provide a stunning backdrop for all this misery. The sex that takes place between the two leads shouldn't distract us from the almost medieval poverty and desperation these people experience.Isild le Besco has now made five films with Benoit Jacquot; she's established a solid working relationship with him. I enjoyed the Sade film, and the crime story that crosses several countries (A tout de suite}. I wish they would make a more traditional story next time.

Just saw this as part of a French Film Festival in Manila which as somewhat uncomfortable not knowing what audiences here find acceptable, though I think I only saw a couple of older audience members leave, everyone else enjoyed the show, many applauded at the end.The story was well written an and directed, the cinematography well done except for a few odd zoom-in close ups. This is not a movie for those easily offended by adult themes as there are more than a few. The leading actress and actor both gave very good performances and though the story is a little predictable, it still leads you in directions you might not expect.

this might pretty much be a big spoiler below.Story revolves around 19th century setting, a doctor's daughter being abducted and/or not by a dumb peasant/drifer. A lot of ambiguity in the film, is he that or not? Is she that or not? Did s/he "intended" to do that or not ? Supposedly the seed of the film is based on some fictional story found in an archive that might or might not have based on true story. True or not, that might not be the point ...The setting is interesting. Perhaps true to the source and the attitudes of the time. The story revolves around whether an beggar/outcast magnetize and capture a doctor's daughter against her will. Somehow the whole thing reminds me of the Italian Devil in the Flesh. Music wise even. I saw on other film by the same director a few years back, that was more of a go-as-you-please, day in the life episode. Not sure if that is typical. This is more structured, has a purpose, it wants to tell you something ,or let you be the judge.Maybe the point of this movie is this : Who you are is a combined definition of a) How you see yourself, b) How others see you and c) Who you really are inside. And well, that all depends on how well you know yourself also ?