In the organizer's words:

The devil's bath
Upper Austria in 1750: young Agnes marries Wolf, a man from another village. Piety, deep faith and superstition, but above all hard work and great poverty determine their lives. The couple moved into a gloomy stone house near her parents' farm, which Wolf, as the younger son, would not inherit. He is frugal and capable, but he knows nothing to do with Agnes, as his desire is for Lenz, a man of the same age. As a result, Agnes' fervent desire to have children is neither fulfilled, nor does she become a useful part of the new community in the eyes of her mother-in-law.
Her inner prison becomes ever tighter, her melancholy ever more oppressive. She falls into "the devil's bath" - a synonym for melancholy and depression at the time. Is an act of violence the only way out?

The film is based on historical court records and a true case and shows a harrowing, previously unexplored chapter of European (women's) history. Anyone who was tired of life in the 17th and 18th centuries was forced to choose a brutal way out in the face of religious dogmas and taboos, which were just as widespread in the Protestant cultural area as in the Catholic one: One murdered another person and confessed to the crime. In most cases, the perpetrators were women and the victims were children. According to church doctrine, a woman who committed suicide was considered a sinner. Eternal torment in hell was certain for her after death. A suicidal woman, on the other hand, who committed her act with the full intention of being punished and executed as a child murderer, could hope to be forgiven and absolved of her sins. She died without laying a hand on herself. Around 400 cases have been recorded from this period in German-speaking countries alone.
Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala create a psychogram of a woman who is crushed by the abysmal, inhumane order of her time. She is played outstandingly by Anja Plaschg, who also composed the impressive film music alias "Soap & Skin".

With a short introduction before the movie by Eva Creutz. Buy tickets here (click) or directly at the movie theater.

Watch the movie trailer here
Austria, Germany 2024, running time: 130 min., FSK 16

Price information:

Admission 12,- / DA! members and reduced: 10,-