Anja Plaschg—Austrian musician, a superb portrayal as Agnes
Imagine yourself face to face with the devil as he smirks at you. He tells you; take a good look at what damage organized religion has done. Why don’t we start with Austria, around 1750, he says. Let’s see now…historic records of babies and children murdered by their families.
The reason? It’s a little bit complicated he says. In that time and place, people can be forgiven for murdering babies and children…if they beg for mercy
No such forgiveness for committing suicide. You have disobeyed god’s command to treasure his greatest gift—thrown it away. God can forgive murder but not that.
Agnes—Joyous expectations for her marriage
Clearly, a lot of people hated their lives—hundreds of murders were committed in these decades. The devil smirks at you again; your churches did people a real favor, didn’t they?
Or maybe people were evil to start with, he goes on. They chopped the heads off the child-murderers. Then drank the blood as it sputtered out, they danced and sang. Talk about partying. Yet the murderers were forgiven.
The devil smirking at you can be a terrifying vision but I think The Devil’s Bath wanted to go in a different direction. Not strictly a condemnation of religion. Not to create a tale scaring the shit out of you. Though it does a good job of scaring you too.
Instead, it wants to move closer to tragedy. To show you one individual’s story; one that will illustrate just one tragedy of many.
From the beginning, you have some idea what to expect. A woman tossing her baby over a huge waterfall, then confessing her monstrous sin. You know she will surely be condemned, and executed. No other way things could go.
As is customary a man with a sharp sword will behead her. Her mutilated body left sitting in a chair, her head next to her, in a metal basket.
Agnes, a woman on her way to her wedding ceremony. Dreaming of being lifted up by the congregation, a joyful smile on her face. She stops a moment to play with a spider crawling on her hand. Not a butterfly, not even a ladybug. Most people can relate to touching one of those. But a spider; something that will disgust most of us, nothing we ever want touching us. She cherishes all living creatures. You can smell tragedy ahead.
Her life ahead is not a life of brutal slavery. Her husband Wolf is not a bad man; he is actually a gentle man. You can see that he wants to make Agnes happy.
But their life has an ugliness to it; along with a sense of something missing. Every day the same work, fishing in chilly, muddy water. Hints that Agnes hoped to experience the sensuality of their marriage bed. For Wolf, the sex act is just something you indulge when you feel the need, like jerking off.
Wolf’s mother, a mother in law from our worst nightmares. A woman in charge of the fishing crew, unsparing, unforgiving. She feels she is in charge of Wolf’s house too. Little praise, endless
criticism for all that Agnes does. Wolf never stands up to her. Agnes is unable to.
The outside world is much the same. No one ever speaks out against the crowd—and Wolf’s mother specifically. Don’t talk to that slut. No extra money to that guy who says his family is hungry.
No one questions the church’s authority. A man hangs himself—a crowd forces their way into his house while his mother screams at them to get out. No effect; they drag his body away and literally throw it onto a garbage heap.
Agnes—A growing sense of despair
You keep hoping you are wrong—that Agnes will never become the woman tossing her baby away. But all the warning signs point that way. In this country, “the devil’s bath” describes the state of depression and repressed anger causing someone unable to work…then unable even to function.
I reminded myself about historical changes still to come, in Austria and in other places. People attending churches who saw more to god’s plan than intimidating commands, threats, retribution. After watching The Devil’s Bath, you will need to remind yourself of that history. Here you experience the horror of the dark times, people inflicting their worst on those they lived with. Believing they are doing god’s will.
The introduction mentions hundred of people condemned for murdering children. Only numbers. Here, you get to watch one individual for yourself. You find it agonizing to watch Agnes drift into that place—especially after remembering her smile as she watches the spider, her look of wonder.