Hugh Grant is fearsome and fun in Scott Beck’s and Bryan Wood’s twisted test of faith
There is an undeniable irony in the fact that Scott Beck and Bryan Wood’s sardonic genre film strives to criticize rigid narratives and dogmatic patterns. Nevertheless, the writer-director duo clings to a number of well-worn dramatic formulas and narrative tropes. Despite the familiar set-up, there are enough original ideas in their twisted take on religious reckoning. The story is a cruel cinematic cat-and-mouse game, spiked with vivid metaphors and some genuinely amusing analogies. It follows the Twenty-something Mormon missionaries Sister Paxton (Chloe East) and Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) into the remote home of quaint, colloquial Mr. Reed, played with devilish delight by Hugh Grant.
His friendly demeanor and his promise of freshly baked blueberry pie are, as everyone who watched the trailer already knows, a ruse to trap the girls. Not a ruse, however, is his interest in the faith of his young guests who soon sense they’d better leave. At that point it is, of course, too late. What started out as a promising if somewhat paternalistic proselytizing turns into a Mephistophelean match of wits. Mr. Reed’s aim is far more vicious than to leave his two visitors spiritually shaken. The darkly humorous plot tackles the conflict of logic and liturgy, but it goes deeper than the ancient question which faith, if any, is “the right one”.
Instead, the script focuses on a person’s individual approach to their religion. While Mr. Reed perceives religion solely as an instrument of psychological manipulation, Sister Barnes and even more so Sister Paxton see their faith as an ethical stimulus. Mr. Reed approaches faith as a justification to judge others and justify himself; Sister Paxton approaches it as a prompt to tolerate others and question herself. Their contrary personalities, supported by competent acting, make their intellectual duel equally entertaining and suspenseful. This subtle dread is enhanced by the confining setting. Outwardly staid and stuffy, Mr. Reed’s home hides a sinister underbelly – as well as several collector’s editions of Monopoly, used for some amusing religious symbolism.
What Heretic lacks in rational forwardness and intellectual provocation, it makes up for with convincing performances and sinister set pieces. Miniature replicas of Mr. Reed’s house are turned into models of his warped psyche. The camera roams through these tiny rooms, loosing itself in ever darker corners of the mind. There, bourgeoise perversion and Christian repression melt into a patriarchal idea of faith as instrument of control and punishment. In contrast, Sister Paxton’s view represents an antithetical concept of believe as an incentive for compassion and self-improvement. By having these antithetical attitudes personified by an old white man and two young women, the claustrophobic scenario uses the final girl trope for a timely clerical critique.
This critique – not of religion itself, but of its abuse – is much harder to dispute than rational arguments against the existence of a God or afterlife. The dramatic refusal to openly debate religion makes the story at some points feel frustratingly indecisive. Still, the effective mix of humor, psychological tension and scares makes for an atmospheric, diverting genre gem.
- OT: Heretic
- Director: Scott Beck, Bryan Woods
- Screenplay: Scott Beck, Bryan Woods
- Year: 2024
- Distribution | Production © A24
