Not so tender mercies: Guiraudie delivers ‘Misericordia’

Cinema | September 3rd, 2025

By Greg Carlson

“Misericordia” premiered at Cannes in 2024 and is now available to see in the United States on the Criterion Channel and other streaming services. In the sharp and thought-provoking thriller from “Stranger by the Lake” writer/director Alain Guiraudie, the viewer is introduced to Jérémie (Félix Kysyl), a mysterious and inscrutable prodigal who returns to his hometown village of Saint-Martial to mourn the death of his mentor. Guiraudie, with more than a dash of Hitchcockian precision, establishes a magnetic bond between Jérémie and the small group of characters in his orbit. Following an inexplicable disappearance, Jérémie is suspected of any number of possibly catastrophic actions. We will ponder and wonder and try to figure him out along with the film’s supporting characters.

Jérémie’s deceased master, the baker Jean-Pierre Rigal (Serge Richard), is survived by wife Martine (Catherine Frot), who appears to cherish the one-time employee as much as her own son, the wary Vincent (Jean-Baptiste Durand). Guiraudie sends a steady electric and erotic current through multiple relationships, suggesting sexual dynamics between Jérémie and each of the three Rigal family members. Additionally, Jérémie expresses an interest in friendly neighbor Walter (David Ayala). And if that is not enough, the country priest, Abbé Grisolles (Jacques Develay), makes his own lust for Jérémie as plain as the erection that will later provide a plausible alibi.

Guiraudie curates a rewarding cinematic experience that might be described as deceptively simple. The concrete sequence of events that unfolds throughout the course of the narrative is completely clear and straightforward. The psychological motivations of Jérémie and others, however, leave our heads spinning and our sense of curiosity reeling. “Misericordia” luxuriates in the amount of breathing room it affords the patient reader/viewer, committing to the show-don’t-tell rule of pure cinema in scene after scene. The filmmaker delights in withholding just enough information; we never come to know exactly why the characters do what they do, but we sure want to keep trying to figure it all out as the scenes unfold.

As the legendary Master of Suspense, Hitchcock routinely operated within the framework of the privileged viewer, in which audience members have access to information unknown to one or more characters. Guiraudie puts his own wicked spin on the “bomb theory,” as Jérémie’s friends, acquaintances and local law enforcement suspect all kinds of obvious truths without necessarily gaining access to the kind of irrefutable evidence that leaves no doubt. And when some of the most terrible suspicions are confirmed, Guiraudie has a blast defying our expectations by doubling down on the mercies implied by the movie’s title.

Guiraudie flexes a wicked sense of irreverent humor throughout Jérémie’s slow-simmering misadventures. How the veteran director manages to wring wry laughs out of such a morbid set of cover-ups following a brutal death is one of the film’s gifts, especially because Guiraudie pulls it off without exhibiting any disrespect to social and religious institutions. Instead, “Misericordia” reverentially respects human desire— both the sexual and the platonic — as its own kind of spiritual summit on par with the worshipful piety of disciples taking a posture of prayer.

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