A synopsis adapted by Arthur Morin from the French novel

Le Songe d’Adam by John Ethan Py.

 

 

Hugo is a professor in one of New York universities. During a lecture about Greek mythology, he is interrupted by one of his colleague. His daughter Morgan, a seventeen years old teenager, has just been arrested in company of a drug dealer. Hugo rushes to the police station where he’s informed she will be released. Upset, Hugo is met by Suzanne, Morgan’s psychologist. Morgan’s mother died when she was young and neither her nor her father succeeded to overcome her death. Hugo buried himself in work, whereas Morgan became difficult while becoming a teen. Her teachers said she was too sensitive, too imaginative and too precocious. Hugo loves his daughter but doesn’t understand her anymore. The people she mixes up with don’t help and she spends her time idealizing her mother at the expense of her father. According to Suzanne, it is now essential for Hugo to spend time with his daughter and to get her out of the lifestyle she is sinking into. The best thing for them would be to go in the countryside for a while.

 

A few weeks after this episode, Hugo is driving a jeep in the German countryside. Morgan sketches in her notebook in the passenger seat. She loses her concentration when her father turns on the radio but she takes over and finds a channel that airs classical music. Hugo says that they’re not far from the small village lost in the Black Forest they’re heading to. He explains to his daughter that Göttenberg’s library is home to one of Europe’s biggest collections of mythology miscellany. He always dreamed that one day he would take some time to search the library and finish his thesis about the Greek and German Gods similarities. That’s why he asked the dean for six months off. Morgan stops him with irony. She perfectly knows why they are taking this trip. Her father takes her to the other side of the world on her psychologist’s advice. Hugo decides to be honest and admits that if they went, it would be mostly to take care of her and then for his researches. Despite her irritation, Morgan is moved by her father’s words. The young woman unfolds a map and discovers the immensity of the Black Forest. She spots the village and guides her father, having fun misspelling the names on purpose.

 

With the sun setting, they are even deeper in the forest. The road narrows, the trees are closer, darker. Hugo jokes with his daughter and tells her he wouldn’t like to be lost here at night. He asks her where they are but she is unable to say. According to the map, they should already have arrived. Hugo rants about not having a GPS and relying on an old map. Morgan sulks and goes back to her drawings. At dusk, Hugo stops the car and checks the maps on the hood using the headlights to see while Morgan keeps ignoring him.

After a few minutes, Hugo faces the facts. They are lost. Getting back in the car, he explains to Morgan that the road they are driving on should only be a few miles but it has already been an hour now. Morgan is uneasy and shudders when she sees a furtive silhouette in the woods. The car starts and goes on the road through a now sinister forest.

After a sharp curve Hugo hits the brakes to dodge a stag crossing the road. Morgan shrieks. The animal, which has stopped in the middle of the road, seems to be decomposing. Its eyes glow in the dark night and its bowels fall from its abdomen. The jawbone is visible. Staring at the headlights for a while, it then sinks back in the forest. Shocked, Morgan asks her father whether he saw the same thing. Hugo doesn’t know what to answer, finally asserting the animal was only wounded.

 

The car finally arrives at Göttenberg. The village is a charming - typically Bavarian - sight whose main attraction is the old church, now home of the library. At this late hour the streets are empty and the car easily drives through. Hugo explains that the house he has rented is located in an isolated hamlet a little further outside town. There they find a huge, bearded, surly man waiting for them: Gustav Waldstein. He introduces himself as the owner. He shows them his own lodge a hundred meters away and begins the tour.

The lodge setting is quaint. In the main room above the fireplace Morgan spots a large painting depicting a stag eaten by dogs. Strangely the stag wears torn clothes and a bow lies beside it. Hugo explains his daughter that it depicts Actæon, a Greek character from Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

He was a hunter and one day he accidentally saw the goddess Diana while she was bathing naked in a stream. The goddess decided to punish him and changed him into a stag. Thus his own dogs, well trained, devoured him. Gustav compliments Hugo for his knowledge and asks him the reason for his presence here. Hugo tells him he is an academic professor and wants to search Göttenberg’s library. Gustav leaves them, wishing them goodnight.

 

The next morning, Gustav asks Hugo to drop him in town because his own car is being repaired. He offers to take him via a longer route, which would allow them to have an impressive view of the forest. Having enjoyed the view, Hugo recognizes the road they used the day before. Disturbed, he stops and states to Gustav that it has changed. He exits the car and observes the surroundings. Everything ties in except the path in the forest. In its stead are only trees. Gustav gives the night and Hugo’s exhaustion as an excuse to explain the change. There never has been any road there. This part of the forest is ancient and hardly entered. Tourists have a hard time getting their bearings here. The car takes the road again, and finally arrives at Göttenberg. Hugo drops Gustav at the garage and parks close to the library.

 

The inside of the old church is breathtaking. The shelving dissolves itself in the architecture, respecting the first purpose of the place. A young and pretty librarian named Annah welcomes Hugo cautiously, as if he entered the building by mistake. Once he tells her the reason of his visit, she radically changes and warms immediately toward him. She almost never has the occasion to meet academics as cultivated as him and hastens to narrate the story of the place. Before entering the library, she asks Hugo to scan his bag through the security gate, explaining some documents have recently been stolen. Hugo, curious, asks for more details and Annah reveals it was a Middle-Ages monk’s writings: Hieronymus von Oldenbach.

 

On her side, Morgan decides to go outside to get some fresh air and explore the surroundings. She heads toward the forest and dives in the undergrowth. The majestic presence of the trees and the sounds of the forest reassure the young woman. After a few minutes, she realizes the forest has darkened. The trees seem older and more sinister. Only a little daylight manages to break through the canopy now. Eerie sounds make her shiver and the howling wind rushes between the branches. Morgan thinks she hears something calling her name but it’s almost inaudible. Frightened she turns back. The morning sun is now hidden behind thick clouds. When she finally reaches the lodges, she starts seeing a child through one of the Waldsteins’ window. The silhouette quickly disappears leaving Morgan perplexed. Despite her distress, she keeps walking toward the lodge. After a turn she finds herself face to face with the child and can’t help the scream from escaping her lips. The child is about twelve years old and has a livid complexion. His hair is a matching blond and his look is disquieting. He runs away and disappears behind the Waldsteins’ lodge. Morgan gets angry and asks whom he is, but nobody answers. When she reaches one of the ground floor’s windows, the kid flattens his face on the windowpane, screaming. Morgan breaks into a run, terrified. Midway she is stopped by two laughs. Looking behind, she is astonished when she spots two boys; twins. They seem quite proud of themselves and the trick they played. They suddenly freeze when they see Gustav’s car coming. He hastily parks the car and gets out yelling at the boys ordering them to go back inside. He apologizes to Morgan, adding that his sons, Karl and Wolfgang, love to play but are not mean. To make peace, he offers her to join them for tea but she refuses politely.

Once in the lodge, she locks the door and goes to her room. She unpacks quietly and sets a picture of her mother on her bedside table. Then she opens her portfolio and pulls a new sheet of paper. When doing so, we can see some of her works, her style beautiful but tormented. Morgan begins to draw a forest landscape. When her father comes back the same night, he goes to her room to ask her why she locked the door. She doesn’t answer and keeps drawing. The paper is now covered. In the middle of the landscape sits a huge decomposing stag. Hugo looks at it and asks her daughter to stop drawing gruesome things. Morgan rolls her eyes and shuts the door.

 

Sometime later Morgan and Hugo have dinner in the living room. Only the crackling fire interrupts the silence. Hugo asks his daughter how her day was and checks whether she has done her homework yet. She avoids the question by telling him about the odd Waldsteins twins. She wants to talk about the dead stag they saw the night before but Hugo stops her. The stag must have been injured, because technically it couldn’t have been dead. Once finished with their meal, Hugo fires up the computer announcing he has a lot of work to do. Morgan scowls at him and goes to bed.

 

In the middle of the night, Morgan wakes with a start. One of the shutters has just slammed on the wall. The moonlight casts a dreamlike light in the room. Morgan rises in her bed and waits a few seconds. Ready to let go and go back to sleep, the shutter flaps again, several times in a row. In a resounding bang the window opens and Morgan sees with horror the dead stag’s head emerge from the frame. The beast moves on its hind legs like a man and wears a pristine toga. It is terrifying. It looks like a stag but betrays something human. Blood drips from its fur and its decaying jaw slowly opens: « Er ist glücklich, Johannes; Er heilt die Unglücklichen, Johannes; Er kennt den Baum des Lebens, Johannes; Den Baum den alle Welt beneidet ».

 

Everything happens as if in a dream, a nightmare. Morgan is completely paralyzed in terror. The beast closes in on her and tears off the sheets still chanting the same words. Then it rips off Morgan’s nightdress, leaving her naked. An intense dread is visible on the young woman’s face. She doesn’t dare to move. Vile and furry hands knead her breast. The man-stag climbs on the bed and rides her, bellowing. This time, the hopeless cry she makes tears the silent night. The door crashes open and Hugo barges in, still half asleep. He sees his naked daughter, thighs opens, screaming, and averts his eyes. Taking the sheets, he covers her then takes her hands to calm her. The young woman is hysteric. Soaked with sweat, she lies in her torn nightdress. Scratches mar her skin, her breast. She doesn’t stop screaming. Hugo uses all his strength and persuasion to get her back. Morgan finally pulls through her trance and breaks into a sob. She snuggles in her father’s arms and tells him everything that just happened. Hugo listens without believing her. He puts it all on her imagination and even asks if she is on drugs. Morgan feels betrayed and denies it hotly. She shows him the scratches, swearing it was real. Hugo doesn’t know what to think, states to her daughter she is sick and has to be taken care of. Morgan replies she is not a liar and that her mother would have trusted her. Hugo takes the blow and leaves the room.

 

In the following morning, Hugo parks downtown. He looks tired; he didn’t manage to sleep much. When he enters the library, Annah greets him with a smile. She tries to talk to him but rapidly understands that Hugo doesn’t really want to. He asks her if he can borrow some books to bring home because his daughter is sick. Annah explains it is normally forbidden but is ready to make an exception. While she is away, Hugo’s phone rings. It’s Suzanne. He thanks her for calling back so soon and begins to relate her the events of the night. She tells him to stay calm and trust his daughter in order to preserve the bond they share. Hugo breaks down and cries, persuaded Morgan is going crazy. When he hangs up he realizes Annah heard everything.

 

Annah and Hugo are having tea in the village coffee shop. Hugo talks about Morgan’s problems. He admits they are primarily here for Morgan’s health. Annah reveals herself to be a good listener. Hugo is thankful and relieved but aware he is confiding in a complete stranger. He goes on sharing the death of his wife and his mourning. He even tells Annah that she had such mental problems she became crazy. He is so upset and afraid by the idea of his daughter going through the same thing. Annah understands and in an attempt to help Hugo she offers to invite them for dinner. This way, she will be able to welcome them properly. Hugo is reluctant but let himself be convinced by the charming enthusiasm Annah shows.

 

When Hugo comes back to the lodge, Morgan is drawing in the living room. She thanks her father for staying with her and shows him her sketches. It depicts the beast as well as the phonetically transcribed words it was chanting. Hugo goes on again that is was a nightmare or a hallucination. She has to stop talking about it but Morgan insists. She thought about the events and says maybe it was another of the twins’ pranks. Hugo lets go for now and distracts Morgan by relaying Annah’s invitation for the night. Morgan pouts but nods. Her father smiles shyly. He would like to take her in his arms but doesn’t know how.

 

The first stars now shine. Hugo and Annah are in the kitchen of the small flat. He plays kitchen aide with Annah as the chef. Morgan dresses the table and winks at her father nodding toward Annah. Hugo blushes and opens a bottle of wine. Once settled around the table, Morgan asks Annah many questions. To Hugo’s delight, they seem to get along well. Morgan tries to pour herself another glass of wine but her father stops her. Annah backs her, reminding Hugo she is seventeen. He surrenders to the two women. A bit tipsy, Morgan begins to hum German words. Hugo recognizes them right away: they are the words of the beast. He bids Morgan to stop but Annah asks what it’s all about. Hugo explains that Morgan had a nightmare the night before and that she thinks she heard words in German. Morgan sings louder this time for Annah to translate. After a while, she recognizes some children’s song all little Bavarians know. It tells the story of lumberjack Johannes. Intrigued, Morgan asks to know more. Annah gets up and comes back with a beautiful bounded book. It is a collection of tales of the Black Forest. She opens it and stops at the picture of a medieval lumberjack in the woods. As she flips the pages, she tells the story:

One day, wandering in the woods, lumberjack Johannes discovered an ancient tree hidden in the heart of the forest. Ready to chop the tree, Johannes heard a voice begging him not to. Johannes understood it was the tree itself addressing him. He lowered his axe and in exchange the tree revealed its secret: it had the power to bring the dead back to life. Johannes didn’t believe it, so the tree offered to demonstrate its ability if Johannes swore to keep its secret. Johannes promised and laid a dead rabbit down between the tree’s roots. A few moments later, the rabbit came back to life. Astonished, Johannes left the tree to go back to the village telling anyone he met his recent adventure, despite his promise. But nobody believed him, so he took the body of a recently deceased child and went back to the tree. He buried the little body between the tree’s roots once again and waited for the child to come back to life. And he did. Johannes returned the village triumphantly holding the child by the hand. However, instead of being thankful, the villagers condemned him for witchcraft and burned him with the child.

 

Morgan is enthralled by the tale and the uncanny etchings. Annah adds that it was her old aunt Abigail who wrote the book. She is a specialist of the Black Forest and its legends and she lives nearby. Morgan is excited and asks whether it would be possible to meet Abigail. Annah doesn’t really know what to say and Hugo cuts short the discussion giving the late hour as an excuse. He warmly thanks Annah who kisses him on the cheek to say goodbye. Hugo blushes again and finds Morgan waiting in the car.

 

On their way back, Morgan tries to convince her father, arguing that it is impossible for her to have invented the song. In her opinion, this is a bad trick from the twins. Hugo doesn’t know what to think anymore. To soothe his daughter, he promises her to meet with Abigail Spillaert in order to learn more about lumberjack Johannes tale.