Step-parenting
is always a tricky proposition, but it is especially so for Grace. As the sole survivor
of a suicidal death cult, she has sort of already lost one “family.” Her
prospective stepson and stepdaughter are less than thrilled to welcome her into
their family. It is hard to form a conclusive judge about them or her in
Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala’s The
Lodge, which screens during the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.
Grace’s
father was the charismatic leader of an apocalyptic Christian cult that
committed mass-suicide Hale-Bopp-style. She was left behind to tell their tale, like
the characters left standing at the end of Shakespeare’s tragedies. Should that
make us trust her more or less?
Regardless,
Richard fell for her hard while writing a retrospective piece on the cult.
Aidan and Mia were already seriously unhappy with his decision to take up with
Grace, but when their mother Laura is suddenly ushered out of the movie, Grace
becomes the focus of their hard feelings. Hoping to bring peace to their
awkward family unit, Richard books a getaway vacation at an isolated mountain
lodge. Right, what could go wrong—aside from Richard getting called back to
work just before a severe storm cuts off Grace and the two resentful children
from the outside world?
Maybe
Grace is a victim in all this, or maybe not, but either way, her cult backstory
is massively creepy. Franz & Fiala frequently return to images of the mass
suicide, which are especially disturbing, because they deliberately emulate
news footage of the Heaven’s Gate cult. It is arguably exploitative, but
undeniably effective.
In
fact, The Lodge is consistently
unsettling because of its uncertainties, starting first and foremost with the
true nature of Grace’s character. Riley Keough’s subtle, ambiguous performance
gives viewer plenty to support any interpretation. Likewise, as Aidan and Mia,
Jaeden Lieberher and Lia McHugh make two of the most suspicious and intense
kids to appear on film since the off-the-rails twins in Franz & Fiala’s Goodnight Mother.
