“Fureurs”, on France culture, sonic thrills in a forbidden forest

Furies
5 episodes on franceculture.fr

On paper, the job accepted by Thomas had it all: guarding the entrance to a forest in the Vosges for seven days, fenced with high fences, with the sole mission of not letting anyone in or out. But, upon his arrival in the 12 m2 cabin, doubt creeps in: why was he given a weapon? What happened to his predecessor, who is rumored to have gone mad in a matter of days? “You can make this place a paradise or a hell, it’s up to you,” says his supervisor, cryptically.

From the first minutes, France Culture’s new radio drama captivates the listener with its gripping story. To write Fureurs, the young Belgian screenwriter and podcast creator Mehdi Bayad was freely inspired by a philosophical tale by Olga Tokarczuk, 2018 Nobel Prize for Literature, around a medieval legend: two strange children appeared, at the on the edge of a forest, to villagers in Suffolk, England. Faced with their green skin and their unknown language, they concluded that they had come from another world, via an underground passage.

Dystopia full of twists and turns

No snake-skinned children or medieval decor in Fureurs, but supernatural creatures and a disturbing atmosphere as desired, distilled by a soundtrack carefully concocted by director Baptiste Guiton, using sophisticated new technologies . Rustling, breathing, cavalcades, crackling… the noises the protagonists hear fuel their paranoia and ours.

The imagination is in full swing and Sébastien Quencez’s squeaky music and the impeccable acting of the actors (Bastien Bouillon, Tiphaine Daviot, Quentin Dolmaire) help to increase the tension, like in a good horror film. And if, in the end, the five episodes of this dystopia rich in twists and turns leave us a little unsatisfied, a second season is already planned.

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