The Austrian filmmaking duo of Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala have become a prominent set of names when it comes to depicting horror that penetrates the human mind. Their particular brand of psychological terror was perhaps best seen in their feature debut, “Goodnight Mommy.” It’s a film that garnered accolades and inspired a Hollywood remake starring Naomi Watts. Their latest is another psychological warfare on the audience’s mind. “The Devil’s Bath” is not a horror film per se. But that doesn’t mean it is any less terrifying.
The Devil’s Bath (2024) Movie Synopsis & Plot Summary:
Will Agnes Find Happiness or Only Despair in 18th-Century Austria?
“The Devil’s Bath” shifts us to the 18th-century Austria. The film opens with an immediate shock. A forlorn-looking woman picks up a wailing baby as if to soothe. But it quickly becomes something radically sinister. We see her take the baby through the woods to the highest point of a waterfall. Then she tosses the baby with as much nonchalance as one littering smoker does with the cigarette butts. The woman proceeds to confess her crime and pays with her life. She is taken to the woods and beheaded. Her decapitated head is put inside a cage while her body sits on a chair. It becomes a mossy shrine and reminder.
Our primary story starts with the marriage of Agnes (Anja Plaschg) and Wolf (David Scheid). Agnes has hopes and dreams which most of the religious women of that time have, i.e., to be a good wife and be a mother. But her simple hopes meet an unexpectedly unceremonious end. After Agnes’ mother and brother depart and the wedding festivities are over, Agnes waits for Wolf for their first night together. However, a drunken Wolf does not reciprocate her sexual advances. Instead, he asks her to turn on the other side while he masturbates. After self-pleasing, Wolf falls asleep.
How will Agnes Survive her Nightmare Marriage?
Agnes comes to the saddening realization that her husband does not want her physically. A grim realization indeed, as this means her hopes of becoming a mother are also dwindling away. On top of that, there is her mother-in-law, Ganglin (Maria Hofstatter). Whether it is cooking or helping the family with their fishing business, Ganglin finds faults in Agnes’ every move. Agnes could not help but feel grasping for breath. The more she tries to make an effort, whether it is with her husband or with her mother-in-law, she seems to repel them. In different ways.
Wolf’s family, as one of the wealthy farm owners of the village, provides bread to their fishing workers. Mother Ganglin is strict about not giving two breads to any single person, even if the other person is in need of one, a habit that Agnes struggles to adopt. The only person Agnes sort of forms a friendship with is a young woman who works for them. This young woman is pregnant. It is implied that her husband is nowhere to be seen. Agnes forms a bond with this single mother.
The Devil’s Bath (2024) Movie Ending Explained:
What is Devil’s Bath?
The film is a dreadful picture of ignorance leading to denial of mental health. I mean, we still have that in this century, and this is the 18th century we are talking about. The film’s titular Devil’s Bath refers to depression. The frightening name is an apt reverence for the phenomenon of depression. However, instead of finding a recourse, mental health has to be treated the way you would against the Devil himself, i.e., with violence and with poison, which is supposed to ‘drain the melancholy’ away.
What Made Agnes Suicidal?
Wolf’s reluctance to make Agnes pregnant is the first strike. Her desire to be a mother is further highlighted when she simply picks a baby who is lying by the river and starts to think it is a gift from God. She seems devastated to return the baby to their rightful family. Next comes another shock in the form of her mother-in-law. Ganglin has been formidably unsympathetic towards Agnes. When Agnes’ friend, the single mother pregnant woman, asks for one more bread, Ganglin makes Agnes deny that. This breaks their friendship as well as Agnes’ heart.
This triggers Agnes to flee and go back to her mother’s house. But they ask her to go back, as her husband’s home is her home now. She is literally dragged by Wolf from her mother’s home. However, after returning, Agnes stops doing anything. Her bed becomes her only abode. She starts to dabble with self-harm in the form of licking rat poison. “The Devil’s Bath” exhibits a slow but meticulous study of mental destruction. By the first lick of rat poison, Agnes has completely lost any yearning to wake up the next day.
Why Did Agnes Kill the Boy?
Now, we come to our initial scene, where the unnamed woman throws an innocent child to death. Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala have made the film on the intriguingly cruel practice that was seen in 17th-18th century German-speaking central Europe and Scandinavia. It is the “Suicide by Proxy” phenomenon. Folks, especially women who were severely depressed and suicidal, could not commit the actual act of killing themselves. In Christianity, suicide was portrayed as the worst of all sins. Even in this film, the priest’s words make it feel like suicide is equivalent to spitting on God’s face.
So, people who wanted to kill themselves would commit a capital crime. Like murdering an innocent child. This would mean that they would be pronounced dead. But they will get a chance to confess and repent. A priest will visit such criminals. But a suicide victim will not get a proper burial. This is what the woman did in the opening scene. This is what Agnes felt compelled to do. So, one fine day, she tricks a young boy and stabs him to death.
Then, she confesses her crime and pleads to be forgiven. The priest does pray for her soul. That was all she wanted. So, she happily gets her head chopped off.
Did Wolf Love Agnes?
It appears that Wolf actually did love Agnes, although not physically. Wolf never admitted, and the film did not show it explicitly, but there were enough hints to indicate that Wolf was homosexual. Possibly a bigger sin than suicide at that time. The suicide of Wolf’s close friend could also be due to their relationship. Wolf was shown to be caring for Agnes. He pleaded Agnes’ case against her mother a couple of times, however meekly it is. And he was sincerely sad to see Agnes executed.
“The Devil’s Path” is a gloriously gloomy testimony of how religion suppressed people and allowed them to tear themselves apart instead of acknowledging what is right. The grotesque and morbid celebration by the community after Agnes’ death, where they collect Agnes’ blood to take as a souvenir, is one scary ending to highlight the horrors of religion.
