Des Teufels Bad (The Devil's Bath)

1750, Upper Austria. Deep in the forest, the sound of a crying baby is drowned out by a waterfall. Around the infant's neck, a woman has hung a rosary. Shortly after, she knock on the door of a prison tower to confess a murder. A thick mist settles over the land. Agnes, an outsider, has just gotten married when she learns of the murderess's fate. In the house her husband has bought, she withers away day by day under the tyranny of him and his mother. Other villagers prove to be as unreliable as the mud in the local fishpond. The word "hysteria" barely escapes their bloodthirsty lips. No matter how many prayers Agnes whispers, there seems to be no escape from the suffocating straitjacket of her imposed existence. In her mind and heart, a dark moth flutters.

In 18th-century folklore, it was said that those suffering from melancholy were trapped in "the devil's bath". Unfortunately, even today, anything that leans towards depression often remains taboo. Des Teufels Bad addresses this age-old misunderstanding through the disturbing portrait of Agnes, a neglected, almost invisible woman. Prayers were no longer enough when women like her were driven beyond despair to madness. Dedicated to real victims from that time, the film draws from historian Kathy Stuart's research on ritual murder as a gruesome escape, in an age when religious Europe regarded suicide as the worst of all sins.

Des Teufels Bad is the latest feature from award-winning duo Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, following Ich seh, Ich seh (2014) and The Lodge (2019). They drew inspiration from the way witch hunts are portrayed in atmospheric horror films from the 1970s. Their attention to every eerie historical detail also evokes comparisons to the folklore-based modern classic The Witch (2015). In Berlin, Martin Gschlacht won the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution for his 35mm cinematography. Actress and musician Anja Plaschg impresses both in the lead role and with the film's score, written under her stage name Soap&Skin.