The Last Ashes movie storyline. Helene returns to her native village, a community that suffers from the patriarchal tyranny of the Graff family. The young woman, outraged by the despotic treatment of her family and the rest of the inhabitants of the area, will initiate a plan to take revenge and put an end to the aristocratic and absolutist class that is decimating her fellow citizens. A modern western starring women set in Luxembourg in 1854.
The Last Ashes (Luxembourgish: Läif a Séil) is a 2023 Luxembourgish Western drama film directed by Loïc Tanson in his directorial debut. Starring Sophie Mousel, it follows Hélène, who returns to her native village under a new identity. Looking for revenge and ready to do anything to destroy the Graff family. The film was premiered at the 56th Sitges Film Festival on 9 October 2023 and subsequently released in Luxembourg on 25 October.
It was selected as the Luxembourgish entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards On December 7, it appeared in the eligible list for consideration for the 2024 Oscars, but, it didn’t make it to the shortlist.
In 2019, Film Fund Luxembourg contributed €30,000 for project development. In 2020, Film Fund Luxembourg contributed €30,000 taking the contribution to €2.8 million of the total budget, which was estimated at €3,947,432. Filming began on 25 April 2022 and completed on 25 June mainly near the Eyneburg castle in Hergenrath in the municipality of Kelmis, Belgium. On 7 June 2022, behind the scenes of filming were revealed. The film was selected in Noves Visions section of the 56th Sitges Film Festival and screened on 9 October 2023 in Sitges, Catalonia, Spain.
Film Review for The Last Ashes
Captained by the wonderful Sophie Mousel – who plays Hélène, the main character in this film which was shot exclusively in Luxembourg, where its director, Loïc Tanson, was born – The Last Ashes introduces us to a little-known period in time which led to Luxembourg becoming an autonomous state, free from the yoke of Holland and Prussia. Presented in a world premiere at the 2023 Sitges Film Festival, and chosen to represent the country at the Oscars in the category of Best International Feature Film, Tanson’s first full-length movie is now screening in the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival, having been selected for the Third Kind line-up.
A spot-on, intriguing mix of various film (sub) genres – western movie, gory-toned horror and cathartic rape and revenge film – The Last Ashes follows in the American tradition whilst also enriching it with European folklore. The result is an intriguing, one-of-a-kind film which gives a liberatory kick in the privates to an overconfident patriarchal tradition. The story told by Loïc Tanson is that of a little girl who decides to defy an unfair and violent tradition which forces women into silence and, ultimately, submission.
Set in Luxembourg in 1854, the film is divided into two parts. The first revolves around twelve-year-old Hélène, who lives with her family on the estate of the powerful and despotic Graff in order to survive the famine looming over the entire country. Until she decides to defy her destiny of becoming – at the end of a gruesome initiatory ritual – one of Graff’s many “women” whose only aim in life is to procreate (children, and then later, robust yet docile men).
Filmed in majestic black and white, which highlights the coldness of the stones on which the Graffs’ estate is built, and places even greater emphasis on the dichotomy separating the powerful from their subjects and, first and foremost, men from women, this initial part of the story is arguably the most interesting, from an aesthetic viewpoint at least. The strange masks the children are forced to wear and the mysterious sounds of the Luxembourg language immerse us in a disorientating and cruel universe, and keep us watching with bated breath.
In the second part of the film, which is in colour, Hélène, now an adult who has survived the murder of her family, returns to the Graff estate to take revenge, and her vendetta will know no bounds. The ferocity and determination with which she implements her plan rouses the other women dominated by Graff, brutally awakening them from their tragic torpor.
Together, they trigger a revolution which has been bubbling beneath the surface since the film’s opening images, giving the audience an unstoppable urge to cheer them on. You might ask why we have to wait two hours to get to an ending we could have predicted from the outset, but the euphoria the protagonist’s revenge elicits in the audience is definitely worth the wait. Jubilatory, mysterious, and well structured, The Last Ashes will delight genre film fans and others, especially those itching to deliver a much-needed slap in the face to the patriarchal family and all its despots.
The Last Ashes (2023)
Läif a Séil
Directed by: Loïc Tanson
Starring: Sophie Mousel, Timo Wagner, Jules Werner, Luc Schiltz, Philippe Thelen, Konstantin Rommelfangen, Larisa Faber, Henner Momann, Tommy Schlesser, Marie Jung, Jean-Paul Maes
Screenplay by: Loïc Tanson, Frédéric Zeimet
Production Design by: Christina Schaffer
Cinematography by: Nikos Welter
Film Editing by: Loïc Tanson
Costume Design by: Magdalena Labuz
Set Decoration by: Paco Parma
Art Direction by: Luis Iglesias Alvarez
Music by: When ‘Airy Met Fairy
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Samsa Distributions (Luxembourg)
Release Date: October 9, 2023 (Sitges), October 19, 2023 (Luxembourg)
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