Sylvain Buffoni

Éloi, whose father was killed in a hunting accident a year ago, is called to take part in a strange tribute ceremony in the country. There, immersed in a disturbing world of strange mystical codes, he learns that his father was tracking a huge buck with awe-inspiring antlers alongside the “Indian”. After several outstanding short films, Aurtenèche delivers a first feature that obliquely references the legend of Saint Hubert, who encountered the Almighty while hunting a stag. A cryptic thriller, hidden manuscripts, the quest for self-knowledge, psychotropic drugs: La Contemplation du mystère boldly shifts between moods and genres.

When circumstances conspire to leave Louise, an established Quebec painter, and Ahmed, an aspiring Lebanese-Canadian actor, sharing a remote lake house, the tension rarely abates. Understandably, Louise resents her solitude being trespassed on, particularly by someone whose backstory is hardly airtight.

Living somewhere in present-day Quebec, Boris Malinowski has achieved all his goals. A freethinker, open-minded and proud, he also displays a certain arrogance when it comes to his successes. For some time now, his wife Béatrice, a Canadian government minister, has been bedridden, suffering from a mysterious depression. To escape from his wife’s agony, Boris begins a relationship with a colleague, Helga, and gets close to Klara, a young woman who works as a maid in Boris’s home. The sudden appearance of a stranger in his life forces Boris to come face-to-face with the world, with everything he takes for granted, with all his certainties.

One day, for no apparent reason, a cop kills 11 children. The same day, horror novelist Thomas Roy tries to commit suicide after cutting his fingers. At first glance, nothing seems to link the two events – until Dr. Paul Lacasse, a disillusioned psychiatrist, takes over the case. Prompted by his colleague Jeanne, a fan of Thomas Roy, Dr. Lacasse investigates the writer’s past. Hounded by a gossip columnist, Dr. Lacasse uncovers a series of troubling facts that bolster his convictions about the case. As he tries to reassemble the pieces of the puzzle in order to better treat the famous writer, Dr. Lacasse is dragged further and further into a series of events, with terrifying consequences.