Dans la forêt

I see that one or two reviewers compare the film with Kubrick's El resplandor (1980). Far from that. "The shining" had a meaning, was understandable, not like this mess, which no one can tell what it exactly was. Slow paced, half in the dark, the film let you guess whatever you want and explain it your way, if you can explain anything. Yes, beautiful nature, but that's all. As to the rest, just ask the writers and the director to tell you what they had in mind making this crap, if they had anything. My advice, avoid it thus saving time and eventually money.

My vote: 1/10.

Where was this film hidden that it took me 8 years to see it? Director Gilles Marchand has made three feature films, three shorts and a TV series, and is basically a screenwriter, author of around thirty titles. Thanks to his gift to turn ideas into screenplays, Marchand creates a story that, on the surface, is the rushed and forced initiation rite of two French children who spend a holiday with their father, but it is above all a bona fide paranormal horror drama. As the elements of the genre are cleverly distributed throughout the story in a very intelligent way, it takes a while to realize that what makes us follow the film to the end is the mystery of a disfigured man who haunts the child protagonist throughout the story.

Jérémie Elkaïm plays a Frenchman close to turning 40 who works in Sweden and invites his sons Tom (Dorp) and Benjamin (Voorde) to visit him. Once there, he takes them into the forest and the children realize that they have been practically kidnapped by their father (or is he really their father? As Benjamin suggests) and that he is determined to introduce little Tom to the world of paranormal matters. Tom is 10 years old and does not understand why his father is interested in him exercising his gift for extrasensory perception and, on top of that, showing him that they are very similar in that sense. However, the father's mission is more complicated than what if appears to be. The rest of the plot focuses on the rebellion of Benjamin, the pre-adolescent son, and reaches levels of accelerated tension.

Four factors are outstanding in this drama: Marchand's assured direction, the convoluted script he wrote with his collaborator Dominik Moll, the performances of all three protagonists (highlighting the impeccable work of little Timothé vom Dorp) and the majestic photography of the great Jeanne Lapoirie, who captures all the splendor of the forests and lakes of Sweden. The four elements combine to make a very good film that has been forgotten, perhaps because it lacks blood and shocks.

The least we can say about Gilles Marchand is that he likes to mull over his projects: seven years passed between his "Who killed Bambi?" (2003) and the well-polished "Black Heaven" (2010) and six years later, he makes his come-back with this fantasy-thriller. In this new movie, Gilles Marchand travels to Sweden where the immensity of the nearly surreal scenery contrasts with the darkness that does not stop to infect this idyllic environment. The shots, that go from close-ups to extreme wide shots, help to feed this unease that we cannot grasp and that finally takes over. "Into the forest" took a commitment to suggest, raise doubts and leave leeway to some (maybe too much) interpretation and that is its strength, but also its huge weakness: even if we understand that some elements feed the fantasy, sometimes we feel that the plot has been built into a void that the spectators have to fill themselves. Technically speaking, the movie is quite original and the actors' awesome performance saves the boat from sinking.

Not all things get resolved easily. Some movies have natural ways of telling their story, others really challenge the viewer. This one is more in the category of the latter. It has really good potential overall and the acting is also very good. The relationships are there and while not everything may seem "normal", the movie itself could be described that way too.

Having said that, all the mysteries surrounding the past get unraveled as time passes. So we do have some jumps in the time line, but it works smoothly with the rest of the story and the build up also works in favor of the suspense it creates. Not perfect, but very good in the mood department and in the overall sense and suspense.

I don't agree with those who find the story line slow, or try to compare this film with Kubrick's "shining". This is a european film after all and european films only rarely handle their characters the way Hollywood does. In "shining" a father gets crazy and tries to kill his wife and son. Period! No further development of characters, all black and white, all it matters is horror itself. In "dans la foret", a realistic, european psychological thriller, we have a character who struggles and fights with his demons and in his desperation turns to his six years old son for help, a little boy, who having a special charisma can actually personalize his father's evil side. To a sentimentally intelligent viewer the "peace" the little boy offers to his father, a process which helps him too to get rid of his nightmares as it is illustrated in the end of the film is really heartbreaking and deeply touching. Horror is part of the story but not its goal. So i strongly recommend the film to the ones who like psychological thrillers based on human characters and not just horror. Especially the ones who are still trying to decide wheather their father has been a "devil" or an angel to them (for that was the case of the little "son" in the film) may shed a lot of tears in the end...