Directed by Didier Konings and written by Marc S. Nollkaemper, in a medieval Dutch village, a young woman is caught between her faith, fanatic townsfolk and the dark forces lurking in the woods. Starring: Anneke Sluiters, Len Leo Vincent, Reinout Bussemaker, Nola Kemper, Leon van Waas, Sam Post and Joy Verberk.
One of the strongest elements which Heresy has to offer is also the first that you’re hit with as soon as you enter its medieval world, and that’s the cinematography from Luuk de Kok. That rich, earthy palette and heavy focus on the woodlands make for a really strong first impression. Especially when paired with Didier Konings’ pensively lingering direction. Loving to sit in its moments, to really look and ponder the implications of its scenes, whether spiritual or bloody. Although, it can go a touch overboard later on with the spiritual touches which take the film a little too far out of its otherwise strong atmosphere.
The thematic elements are also well done and surprisingly timely. Touching upon the concept of rejecting a patriarchal society, challenging authority and misinformation. As well as capturing how in the era Heresy portrays women were often the scapegoat for any number of issues. The story certainly works but coming in at just over sixty minutes, it can feel underdeveloped. It doesn’t really have the time to truly explore all its story has to offer. As it stands it’s rather simplified, which is unsatisfying despite the best of intentions and good style.
As well as a really strong performance from Anneke Sluiters, she relies so much on silence, delivering this portrayal through a lot of facial cues and body language, and it works surprisingly well. She creates a great lead in Frieda, we see the beginnings of a strong, intelligent, resilient character and it would have been really enjoyable to see her to continue to travel down this road of rebellion. Heresy really focuses on her performance, and the rest of the characters feel intentionally secondary as to not move the spotlight off of Frieda, and that was a great choice. Although credit to many of the performances from the men here, particularly Len Leo Vincent and Leon van Waas, for making their characters convincingly detestable, pathetic and deeply misogynistic.
Heresy is a solid debut feature from Didier Konings, it shows a lot of potential, especially given how strong it is visually, but it can feel unfinished. Keeping to that extra short runtime for a feature does limit how far its story can progress given the slower, eerie style. It’s well made, the aesthetic is strong work, and the performance from Anneke Sluiters is terrific, but it doesn’t develop far enough to craft something truly satisfying, or to create a more impactful connection with the audience.
