A new teaser for The Ones Who Grieve has arrived, and the film is headed to Austin. French director Quarxx brings his new period horror feature to Fantastic Fest for its North American premiere on September 18.
Here is the setup. The story takes place at the end of the 19th century on an isolated farm, where Zélie, played by Zélie Rixhon, lives under the authority of her father Jacob, played by Thierry Frémont. Jacob is a deeply religious man. A disease known as the Black Veil is working its way through the surrounding countryside, faith starts bleeding into madness, and Zélie has to fight to hold onto her humanity and get free. Isabelle Anciaux and Jean-Baptiste Maunier round out the principal cast. Transgressive Production and Kali Pictures produced.
Faith, Disease and Something Much Worse
Festival descriptions reveal that the Black Veil is part of something stranger than a straightforward historical plague story. The film takes place in an alternate version of 19th-century rural France where Tesla towers are beginning to rise across the countryside as electricity changes the world. Those infected by the mysterious illness are described as lingering in an agonizing state rather than simply dying, while science and religion offer competing explanations for what is happening.
Grimmfest has gone as far as describing the movie as a French Gothic Western with zombie elements. L’Étrange Festival takes a slightly different angle, describing Quarxx’s approach as a mixture of scientific fantasy, folklore and Grand Guignol melodrama. Either way, this appears to be doing considerably more than dropping a supernatural disease into a period farmhouse.
The original French title is Les Âmes en peine. The film runs 116 minutes and has already traveled through the European festival circuit before arriving in Texas. WTFilms is handling international sales.
Where You Know Quarxx From
If the name rings a bell, Quarxx directed Pandemonium, the 2023 French descent into Hell that played FrightFest and later received an Arrow release. Before that he made his feature debut with All the Gods in the Sky. The Ones Who Grieve is his third feature.
The Ones Who Grieve has its North American premiere at Fantastic Fest on September 18. The festival runs September 17 through 24 in Austin. According to the film’s PR team, the movie is currently seeking distribution.
