Dans la forêt

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.

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...

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.

A would-be standard personal haunting story is absolutely ruined by the "dad"'s "no-go" or as the Americans would say, "inner-city ghetto" accent ... which completely clashes with everything else. The development is too slow, and the whole "excentric" behavior of the father would have him gotten in jail and his children to the Barnevernet (the swedish Child Protection Services) in no time, something this movie's French producer had visibly no concept of.

Avoid, unless you're not a native French speaker, not a Scandinavian, or that you just want to enjoy some Swedish nature shots.

I see that one or two reviewers compare the film with Kubrick's Shining (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.