Into the name

A tale of witchcraft in the farming world

After the death of his mother, Davy joins his godfather’s farm. In a world torn between profit and morality, Davy finally sets up on his own to run his farm as he sees fit. After a very encouraging start, Davy’s farm ran into a series of unexplained problems. A neighbour whispered to him that someone wanted to harm him and was casting spells. There’s only one person who can help him: the man from Lacroix. He will contact the mysterious individual. And so begins a deadly hunt for the culprit. To defeat evil, you have to speak its name.

Note of intent

The story takes place in a farming area that is both archaic and ultra-contemporary. The topography of the village is not specified. A mental landscape. Everyone’s countryside.

Into the name is a psychological thriller, an investigation. During this investigation, the characters and the audience are asked to find the villain, the guilty party, the one who makes the heroes suffer. This is the ultimate goal of fictional productions the world over: to find the villain. Because there has to be one. Because there must be an origin, a cause for all this suffering. Yet Jeanne Favret-Saada is adamant that, having studied witchcraft in the French countryside for many years, she has only ever dealt with victims, never witches.

Language is the main subject of Dans le nom, tying up spells and precipitating destinies. The verb kills as much as it heals.

I’m not interested in the truth. What interests me are the gaps. The invisible. The way in which a word becomes legitimate thanks to what it implies, what it doesn’t say, what it conceals. Language as an occult science. Dans le nom is not a political indictment; it is above all a metaphor.

©photo : Simon Gosselin