L'Engloutie

1899. On a stormy night, Aimée, a young teacher, arrives in a snow-covered hamlet in the Hautes-Alpes. Although the villagers are suspicious of her, she is determined to use her knowledge to shed light on their dark beliefs. As she integrates into the life of the community, a feeling of sensual confusion spreads within her. Until one day, the first mountain dweller is buried by an avalanche. "Louise Hémon's drama deals with traditional customs and practices in a small Alpine village. Visually, L'engloutie, with its 4:3 aspect ratio, grainy, dark images and stylistically minimalist settings, is inevitably reminiscent of the works of Alice Rohrwacher. As in her films, the atmosphere is a wondrous mixture of magic and dreary reality. Poverty, the absence of education and simple peasant life are at the forefront. The underlying mood and the imposing mountain world are the real protagonists of a film that never seeks to provide complete clarity about reality and imagination."