Set in 19th-century Luxembourg, this period revenge thriller captivates from the start. As young Hélène (Giusi Carenza) comes of age (a relative term), so her role in the community becomes painfully clear. Village patriarch Graff (Jules Werner) rules with an iron fist, and Hélène and her family flee as she rejects the horrific duties forced upon her.
Years later, Hélène returns to her home town – now all grown up and played by a steely-eyed Sophie Mousel. Having adopted a new identity, Hélène ingratiates herself with the Graff family and sets about destroying the man and everything he has built, one bootlicker at a time.
Part folk Western, part gritty revenge film, The Last Ashes is unique in its setting and historical context. As Hélène faces off against the monstrous Graff, so she also stands against the systemic oppression of the weird little community he has built. Its action is slow to unfold but satisfying when it gets there, and director Loïc Tanson (who co-writes, along with Frederic Zeimet) assembles a grotesque gathering of monstrous men – some more conflicted than others.
Mousel is fantastic as the fiercely determined revenger. She’s ably supported by those around her, including Marie Jung and Jeanne Werner as the other women trapped in Graff’s brutal regime. Timo Wagner also impresses as Hélène’s childhood friend and Graff’s youngest son, both complicit to his monstrosity and a victim to it himself.
True, the rest of the film never quite lives up to the promise of its breathtaking first 20 minutes, but The Last Ashes is a beautiful, horrifying version of the revenge thriller that compels to the last breath. Move over The Northman, the woman from Luxembourg is here.
THE LAST ASHES premiered at Pigeon Shrine FrightFest on August 25th, 2024.
