Director Elisabeth Scharang has some forays into both fictional and documentary filmmaking. Her experience in both help her in Woodland, her new fictional full length feature. It’s mainly a showcase for her protagonist Marian (Brigitte Hobmaier), a survivor of a terrorist attack who retreats to her childhood home. But she gives enough screen time for a few key characters. One of those is her Romanian husband Georghie (Bogdan Dumitrache) visiting her but ending up at the home of her neighbours, Gerti (Gerti Drassl). Gerti tries to convince him that Marian doesn’t live in the village. This hostile interaction exposes the village’s dicey local politics. But this is unlike this year’s other film about strangers versus a village, The Beasts. There are a few more places where the plot can go.
It seems obvious now, but it still feels refreshing for Woodland to reveal that Marian and Gerti are estranged friends. Separately, they represent what seems like the Austrian psyche without being too obvious about it. One represents all of Europe without borders, able to achieve yet also witness more painful events. Meanwhile, the other experiences pain close to home because life seems to leave her behind. Maybe I like this because of some idealized reverse sexism, that I like women cooperating than competing, or perhaps I’m done being a hater. Regardless, I like the road that this film takes. Besides, both Hobmaier and Drassl carry their characters’ emotional arc, showing how bonds can re-form between two broken people.
- Genre: Drama
- Release Date: 9/8/2023
- Directed by: Elisabeth Scharang
- Starring: Bogdan Dumitrache, Brigitte Hobmeier, Gerti Drassl
- Written by: Elisabeth Scharang
- Studio: wega film Vienna
