Blu-ray Review: Misericordia

Blu-ray, DVD Release Date: Sept. 30, 2025
Director: Alain Guiraudie
Price: DVD $17.99, Blu-ray $24.99
Studio: Criterion Collection

Alain Guiraudie has never been afraid of mixing the erotic with the existential. From 2013’s Stranger by the Lake to Staying Vertical a few years later, his films play like enigmatic puzzles, where desire and dread hold equal weight. With Misericordia, Guiraudie moves deeper into rural noir, creating a tale that is both mischievously sly and quietly devastating.

The story begins with Jérémie (Félix Kysyl), who returns to his hometown after years away to attend the funeral of his former employer, a baker. He takes up residence with the widow, Martine (Catherine Frot), only to find old tensions rekindled with Martine’s son, Vincent. A violent confrontation leads to murder, and Jérémie finds himself drawn into a bargain with the local priest, who offers protection in exchange for something more personal, more intimate. The village itself seems to conspire in silence, its mossy houses and winding trails watching like mute accomplices.

Guiraudie directs with the same teasing ambiguity that made him an increasingly respected darling of the arthouse circuit over the past two decades. He laces moments of absurd comedy into scenes of guilt and longing, never letting the audience settle. The result is a film that hovers between melodrama and thriller, yet feels entirely its own. Misericordia doesn’t tie up every thread, but in its unresolved corners lies its power—an unsettling reminder that desire, like guilt, is rarely neat.