Aarcflick

 A man visits his childhood village to attend the funeral of a family friend and upends the lives of the local eccentrics in this strange, earthy return to form from the French director. Marking a welcome return to the simplified murderous perversities of his fantastical “Stranger by the Lake,” Alain Guiraudie gives the Cannes Premiere section one of his brightest and darkest films with the eerily offbeat “Mercy.” In the director’s best work, Guiraudie’s trademark is infusing genre dalliances with acerbic wit and a delightfully quirky, challenging weirdness. And while it may seem straightforward at first (and thankfully avoids the madcap tone shifts of the murky tragicomedy “Staying Vertical” (2016) and the rather baffling terrorist sex farce “Nobody’s Hero” (2022)), no one could accuse this increasingly twisted psychodrama of being self-serious. Director: Alain Guiraudie Writer: Alain Guiraudie Stars: Félix Kysyl, Catherine Frot, Jean-Baptiste Durand From the start, there is somet...