The Ones Who Grieve (französische OmeU) // 40. Fantasy Filmfest // Deutschlandpremiere

At the end of the 19th century, Zélie lives on a remote farm under the stranglehold of her father, Jacob. He invokes his faith, but that does not stop him from being cruel: under the guise of pious words, he keeps his daughter down, while her mother has long since been broken by his harshness. But even beyond the farm, the world is falling apart. A mysterious plague, the “Black Veil,” is spreading and robbing people of their sanity. Yet the way the infected are treated extinguishes any notion of compassion.

Director Quarxx crafts a dark, fictional era that transplants the raw loneliness of a Western to Europe. The result is a relentless eye-for-an-eye struggle in which domestic violence, religious fanaticism, and a deadly pandemic intertwine. This gothic horror film is a feverish descent into a hellish world that leads in only one direction: into darkness.