A young woman living in a 19th century farming village is accused of being a werewolf.
The Tammarus are a modest peasant family living under the feudal system of early 19th century Estonia. They have raised a son Margus and two adopted daughters, Mari and Tiina. Mari is a quiet blonde who fits seamlessly into the hard-working and austere village, whereas Tiina is a lively and free-thinking brunette whose birth mother was flogged to death for suspected witchcraft. Margus and Tiina have grown infatuated with each other, but the elders would like him to marry Mari. With the whole village and superstition on her side, Mari accuses Tiina of being a werewolf, which leaves Margus with a difficult choice - should he follow his heart and go live with Tiina in the forest as outcasts, or settle for the safety of the familiar and stay with Mari in their community? Based on August Kitzberg's 1911 play.—nihilistening
The Tammarus are a modest peasant family living under the feudal system of early 19th century Estonia. They have raised a son Margus and two adopted daughters, Mari and Tiina. Mari is a quiet blonde who fits seamlessly into the hard-working and austere village. However, Tiina is a lively and free-thinking brunette whose birth mother was flogged to death for suspected witchcraft. Rather than work on the fields with everyone else, Tiina prefers to spend her days walking and singing in the forest and also displays knowledge of natural medicines, all of which makes her even more suspicious in the eyes of the community. Margus and Tiina have grown infatuated with each other, but the elders would like him to marry Mari. With the whole village and superstition on her side, Mari accuses Tiina of being a werewolf, which leaves Margus with a difficult choice - should he follow his heart and go live with Tiina in the forest as outcasts, or settle for the safety of the familiar and stay with Mari in their community? Based on August Kitzberg's 1911 play, but the ending is different in the movie: while in the book, Tiina does at one point return to the village as a werewolf and is unwittingly shot by Margus, in this film, it is left ambiguous whether she was ever a werewolf or it was all in the minds of the simple village folk, who were all too eager to cast anyone slightly different aside. In the film, Tiina returns and makes an impassioned speech to convince Margus to leave with her, but since he takes too long to make a choice, fearing the judgement of his family who are all also present and watching, Tiina disappears into the woods.
