Watched in the cinema (173rd visit in 2024)

After "The Lodge" and two episodes of the series "Servant", Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz return to their native Austria with the oppressive psychological drama "Des Teufels Bad". Right from the prologue of this slow burner, it becomes clear that the directors are focusing on a subject that is uncomfortable, painful and, above all, terribly sad.

A young woman stands in front of a waterfall. She is holding a baby in her arms, which she immediately drops. It is an act of desperation, because the woman really just wants to die. Since suicide is a sin that cannot be forgiven and therefore leads straight to hell, she chooses a path that is even worse. She kills. This gives her the opportunity to confess her sins before her execution and wash herself clean before God.

Sadly, however, this is not pure fiction; according to court records, there were around 400 documented cases of this kind in German-speaking countries during this period, where women in particular murdered in order to end their lives. These women mostly suffered from depression, an illness for which there was no term or understanding at the time. Those who went crazy were in 'Devil's Bath'.

The directing duo take on this subject and show in their wonderfully filmed and very atmospherically staged historical drama how a woman powerlessly sinks deeper and deeper into the bubbling waters of her 'crazy thoughts'. But you can't blame her either, because the life of the pious Agnes, played with uncanny strength by Anja Plaschg, becomes a nightmare after her wedding. The country life depicted in "Des Teufels Bad" is hard, ugly, cold, bleak and, above all, misogynistic. An incredibly authentic snapshot that was carefully researched with the help of a historian and, thanks to this realization, gets brutally under your skin.