Through the Forest (A travers la forêt)

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Drama

Told in ten chapters, each composed of a single tracking shot, Jean-Paul Civeyrac's Through the Forest opens on Armelle (Camille Berthomier), who blissfully awakens from a night of passion with her boyfriend, Renaud (Aurelien Wiik). She gets up, opens the curtains, lets the sunshine in, and sings a happy song to her man, trying to coax him out of bed.

But a moment later, he's vanished and the room has gone dreary and gray. It turns out that Renaud died in a motorcycle accident some time ago, and Armelle remains tormented by these frequent encounters with what she can only believe is his ghost.

One of her sisters, Bérénice (Alice Dubuisson), involved in a frustratingly noncommittal relationship herself, refuses to take Armelle's claims seriously, while her other sister, the flighty Roxanne (Morgane Hainaux) encourages Armelle to visit a medium (Mireille Roussel).

The medium proves to be of no help, but while she's there, Armelle sees a young man, Hippolyte (also played by Wiik), who bears an uncanny resemblance to her lost love. Through the Forest features the music of Antonin Dvorák, Charles Ives, and John Cage. It was shown at the 2005 New York Film Festival, presented by the film society of Lincoln Center.