Thunder (Foudre), Switzerland’s official submission to this year’s International Feature Film Oscar, is an enigmatic and beautifully filmed period piece that could entice viewers (and the Academy) with its mixed-up tale of sexual desire and religious faith.
Director Carmen Jaquier and cinematographer Marin Atlan revel in the beauty of the Swiss Alps, and setting the film in 1900 allows for a paring down of visual distractions to just the countryside, the people and spectacular nature.
The two also play extensively with light and dark in this film, trading off between brightly lit daytime scenes and pitch-black nighttime scenes. Occasionally the sparks of a fire or the golden light of a candle or lantern will light up a character’s face, surrounded otherwise by darkness. The contrast of light and dark feel symbolic of the way the austere and punishing religion of the time and place work to snuff out life, joy and vitality.
Read the full review at AWFJ.org.
Image courtesy of Dekanalog.
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