If you go into the woods today, you’re in for a darkly comedic surprise from French provocateur Alain Guiraudie.

When his friend and former employer Jean-Pierre dies, Jérémie returns to the small town of Saint-Martial to attend the funeral, taking up lodging at the house of Martine, Jean-Pierre’s widow. Martine suggests that he take over Jean-Pierre’s bakery, much to the chagrin of the couple’s son, Vincent. The latter takes aim at the intruder for outstaying his welcome (and apparently trying to woo his mother) as nervy suspicions boil over during a long walk in the forest. Add into the mix a mushroom-foraging priest with his own agenda and a wayward loner who loves pastis, and it’s not long before an intoxicating concoction of guilt, sexuality and comedy brews over.

Teeming with homoerotic desire, the latest film written and directed by Guiraudie (Staying Vertical, MIFF 2016; Stranger by the Lake, MIFF 2013) takes an almost Hitchcockian turn as it progresses from rural melodrama to macabre thriller. It’s his third collaboration with cinematographer Claire Mathon (Portrait of a Lady on Fire, MIFF 2019), whose splendid camerawork and ability to utilise natural light captures the autumnal colours of the village’s surrounding woodland – all while this gripping shapeshifter descends into comic pitch-blackness.

“A delectable study of human nature, which falls midway between film noir and comedy … Guiraudie once again demonstratees his delightful singularity.” – Cineuropa