Joséphine
2026 · 2m
Directed by Camille Ritzenthaler
Genres: drama, surrealism
Tones: contemplative, dark, melancholic
Long imprisoned in a grey, depressive daily life, Joséphine no longer even tries to resist the forest that lays bare her sad addictions — until, at the heart of the dark foliage, something finally reveals itself.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
The forest-as-emotional-manifestation thing is well-trodden territory, but Ritzenthaler's refusal to resolve the 'revelation' moment—leaving us in genuine ambiguity about what's been discovered—is genuinely unsettling in a way that resists the usual catharsis trap.
A formally composed descent into psychological territory that recalls both the Romantic sublime and contemporary art cinema; the restraint in cutting and the measured pace situate this within a lineage of contemplative European shorts that prioritize mood over narrative satisfaction.
The decision to let the camera linger on Joséphine's face during the final reveal—refusing the expected cut to her point-of-view—flips the entire emotional register from external horror to internal recognition, and that single compositional choice makes the whole 2 minutes land.