“Nothing ever happens by chance,” Alpine hut guardian Suzanne (Anne Coesens) tells her guest (Yoann Zimmer) as they both share the journeys that led them to the remote setting of “Forest High” (“Forêt Ivre”), Manon Coubia’s feature debut as a director, premiering at the Berlinale.
It so happens that the Belgian director speaking with Variety ahead of Berlinale, used the very same turn of phrase to describe the path that led her to this cinematic endeavor, in which she brings together three women (Salomé Richard, Aurélie Petit, Coesens) who have made the choice to withdraw from the world for a season as a hut warden.
Through three stories connected by this hut, Coubia unveils three skilfully crafted characters. Each of them harbors a secret; and each of them is put to the test by their chosen solitude.
As Anne (Richard), Hélène (Petit) and Suzanne take turns looking after the hut, hikers come and go, stories bloom and fade, only silence and a blend of seclusion and loneliness remain. Emotions that resonated with both Anne Coesens and Salomé Richard and drove them to collaborate on Coubia’s project.
“As a woman, seeking solitude is already a political act”, underlined Richard, who returns for her second collaboration with Coubia after her short “Full Night”, which premiered at Locarno in 2024. “In our European narrative, a woman alone is either an old cat lady, or an unwanted disturbance. To be nobody’s daughter, nobody’s wife or nobody’s mother but an autonomous human being was a character trait that appealed to me dearly, and resonated with my own being.”
Yoann Zimmer, Anne Coesens in ‘Forest High’
Courtesy: The Blue Raincoat
For Coesens, the collaboration with Coubia was a new experience, but one she was very excited for from the beginning. Fascinated yet terrified by solitude itself, she found herself in Suzanne’s character, torn between romanticism and fear of being alone. “It’s a feeling that I try to confront often. Not being able to be alone can have devastating effects, because we as human beings are alone in essence. But at the same time, we’re basically dead if we are without others. It’s this tension that interested me in Suzanne, and that I wanted to toy with both as an actress, and as a woman.”
Even though “Forest High” is all about questioning your own desire for seclusion, the film itself is an example of how bringing together a tight community of humans can produce art from a small setting. To produce her first feature, Coubia used one of Belgium’s unique funding, the light productions grant. A dedicated support for small-scale production, the light productions grant (set up in 2017 by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation and contemplating a maximum of €150,000 – $177,000 – per project for feature films) allows directors to explore new avenues of filmmaking and bring their own writing style to flexible and independent productions, with a limited budget known from the start. Combined with France CNC’s “aide au parcours d’auteur,” a €20,000 ($24,000) fund for auteurs trying to shift from an art form to another), Coubia built a lightweight production that brought together a small crew of eight to the alpine hut, which she herself had the job of managing for tourists and hikers, even during the shooting.
“The time we spent there allowed us to build a different relationship with the setting and gain more freedom”, added Coubia. “Having the luxury of time was only possible because we had no strings attached to this project, no limited window. Therefore, it allowed Salomé, Aurélie and Anne to spend a long period of time on set, each witnessing different weather conditions, different atmospheres, and creating their own connection with these mountains.”
Per Coesens, it was as if the teams were never working and always working at the same time. At a slow, quiet and benevolent pace that blurred the lines between reality and fiction. A very joyous and fun way to shoot, that allowed all three actresses to completely immerse themselves in the role of these guardians, while adding their own personalities and nuance to Coubia’s characters.
“It became so intertwined that one morning, you could just be seated in the main room eating a bowl of cereals, and Manon would come and say: ‘O.K., we’re going to shoot that’” said Richard.
Yet, at the same time, little room was allowed for retakes as Coubia shot the whole project on film. With such a tight budget, this particular choice had a profound impact on the cast, underlined Coesens. “There’s a specific tension that comes when you start shooting with film, and it had been a long time since I had felt it. Suddenly, all energies converge to one single purpose, and everything is just more on point. For us, there’s an almost sacred nature to film, a special kind of magic, especially in these timeless settings.”
If all three shared a specific love for the mountains, Coubia’s own relationship with the Alps began at a very young age. Born and raised next to these giants, she learned only later in life that her own family had a deep bond with these landscapes. “It was in these very mountains that one of my grandfathers joined the French Resistance. And to me, his story is only one of the many unique tales that this hut holds. In a sense, our three female guardians are also the keepers of these stories, protecting the memories of all those that came before, and those that are being slowly forgotten today.”
Manon Coubia
Courtesy: The Blue Raincoat
Coubia refers to a fourth protagonist of this alpine story, the western capercaillie, which was declared extinct in the French Alps in 2000, due to human influence and the degradation of his habitat. Beyond this bird, “Forest High” is also an homage to the people still living in these valleys, making ends meet as they can in a world that is slowly forgetting them and their way of life. “We’re not only guarding this refuge”, noted Richard, “we’re also protecting this bygone world from oblivion, sharing stories and caring for them, reigniting those fires.”
For the director who started her career as a documentary filmmaker and is still infused by this medium, capturing these portraits and places makes “Forest High” more than a cinematic experience. “In a way, that’s what the title conveys. This forest is real, but it becomes an almost mystical figure, the last of its kind blending plant and mineral worlds at the edge of reality. Within these woods, our characters find solace, refuge and a sense of thrill and elation that brings them closer to themselves, and to these countless stories. That’s a warmth like no other.”
“Forest High” is co-produced by The Blue Raincoat and Aurora Films, with Rai Cinema International Distribution handling world sales.
