Woodland
After witnessing a deadly public shooting that rocked Vienna circa 2020, the PTSD-suffering Marian retreats to the village of her youth, far into the desolate Austrian woods, to heal her broken soul. Based on Doris Knecht’s harrowing book as well as snippets of the director’s own life.
A sincere, mysterious, and intense addition to the mid-life homecoming genre, Woodland is contemporary art cinema with immersive settings in the Austrian countryside, deeply nuanced performances, and a mastery of ambiance. After surviving a terrorist attack in Vienna, urban journalist Marian flees to the remote farmhouse where her grandparents lived. Surrounded by silence, by lake and woods, and by faces from the past, Marian begins to assert herself against her recent trauma and against oppressive village norms while recognizing a complexity and honor in the country life she left so long ago. Anchored in the senses, in no hurry, once the plot takes hold, it is propulsive. With an excellent, evocative piano, vocal, and electronic score by the Polish neoclassical artist Hania Rani, the film’s textures transport the viewer: to Marian’s unheated cottage, to the brightly lighted pub in the village, to the lake, to the snow. Director Elisabeth Scharang’s impeccable, modern visual storytelling meets ancient narrative patterns in this Toronto International Film Festival hit.
- Original Language Title: Wald
- Director: Elisabeth Scharang
- Principal Cast: Brigitte Hobmeier, Gerti Drassl, Johannes Krisch, Bogdan Dumitrache
- Country: Austria
- Year: 2023
- Running Time: 100 min.
- Producer: Michael Katz, Veit Heiduschka
- Screenplay: Elisabeth Scharang
- Cinematographers: Jörg Widmer
- Editors: Alarich Lenz
- Music: Hania Rani
- Website: Official Film Website
- Filmography: Jack (2015), In Another Lifetime (2010), Meine libebe Republik (2007)
- Language: German
- Has Subtitles: Yes
- International Sales: Picture Tree International