October 1918: After returning to the civil life, the young Doctor Giorgino Volli searches for a group of children, which he had been the care-taker of before the first world war began. However, soon the searching becomes a part of hide-and-seek with death. Giorgino finds a village bordered with a treacherous marsh and rumours of wolves. There he also meets the mysterious Catherine....
Cinematography
Every frame looks like a rotting oil painting you can't look away from.
Score
Mylène Farmer's music transforms dread into something almost beautiful.
Production
The marsh is practically a character — wet, hungry, inescapable.
Director
Laurent Boutonnat
Jeff Dahlgren
Giorgio/Giorgino
Mylène Farmer
Catherine
Frances Barber
Marie
Joss Ackland
Father Glaise
Jean-Pierre Aumont
Sébastien
Louise Fletcher
Innkeeper
Janine Duvitski
Josette
David Ryall
Professor Beaumont
John Abineri
Doctor Jodel
Veronica Clifford
Madam Lapierre
Anne Lambton
Mother Raoul
Louise Vincent
Woman at the Fondation Roux
Albert Dupontel
Invalid Male Nurse
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Mylène Farmer was already France's biggest pop star; this was her second film with director Laurent Boutonnat after their iconic music video collaborations.
The film was a massive commercial disaster, bankrupted its production company, and became a cult object of beautiful failure — the French 'Heaven's Gate' of gothic cinema.
FR
