Brute follows Beth, a mother who has retreated deep into the forest, determined to find a miracle cure for her terminally ill daughter. It’s a quest founded on love and the fearless instinct to survive by whatever means necessary, even if they’re beyond our norms.
We first meet her scrambling through lush greenery, utterly detached from the world beyond the trees – a woman consumed by purpose and hope. In this fairytale-like wilderness, Beth’s quest unfolds through her eyes. The forest itself seems alive, the ground breathing softly beneath her feet, the moss shifting as though the earth were a sentient, pulsing creature. It’s a setting that invites us to believe in the possibility of miracles.
Ariane van Vliet’s performance as Beth is phenomenal. Over the film’s 21-minute runtime, she traverses an immense emotional range – from suffocating, ragged sobs to moments of lucid ecstasy and raw, nauseous desperation. Her performance is intense and deeply physical; she sheds every inhibition, drawing us so close to her emotional state that we can’t help but understand her.
When Beth is alone on screen, her conviction is magnetic; we share her faith in the impossible. But the spell begins to falter when her ex-husband (Pieter Embrechts) appears, a figure of reason and scepticism whose presence reintroduces the logic of the outside world. His arrival punctures the dreamlike bubble Beth has built, making us question what’s real.
The film’s camerawork and direction heighten our intimacy with Beth’s resolute psyche. When she runs, the camera runs with her, its jagged, breathless movement mimicking panicked hyperventilation and pulling us further into her mind. The close-up shots of dirty nails sifting through soil, a slug squirming across the screen, and realisation slowly dawning on Beth’s face all feel deeply authentic, enhancing the sincerity of the story and making us even more invested.
Brute is a vivid, intimately crafted picture of faith. It’s a short film that lingers – unsettling and tender, it embraces mystery.
Many thanks to the Aesthetica Film Festival for Press Tickets
- Director Jan Pepermans, Stefanie Vanhecke
- Producer Rosa Galguera Ortega
- Writer Jan Pepermans, Stefanie Vanhecke