Ladyane Silva

*Contains SPOILER* Heretic is a film you don't “like”, you process. It doesn't end in the credits. It ends when you start to wonder about there being no redemption even though it sadistically seems like there is that option. The premise is as simple as it is disturbing: two young Mormon missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East, in deeply human performances) knock on the door of a charismatic man. Hugh Grant plays Mr. Reed who presents himself as someone curious, cultured, a refined soul, who likes to talk about faith, but without rancor. And this is where the film starts to catch us: it manipulates not only the protagonists, but the viewer himself. Even when we clearly see him lie about the wife, about the blueberry pie, about the keys, there is something in his posture, his tone, his elegant logic, that suspends our judgment. He already locked the door. He has already shown himself to be controlling. But even so, we begin to sympathize with Reed, to rationalize his lies, to root for his eloquence. That's the trick... And that's why, when he reveals himself to be evil, the revelation is more about us than about him. Reed forces us to realize how willing we were to rationalize his cruelty, how much we tolerated his control because he seemed intelligent, charismatic and... reasonable. It is at this moment that the film fulfills its objective: not to shock us with evil, but to show us how evil presents itself when it speaks our language. The film is elegant. Cold. Symmetrical. Everything is so clean, so orderly, that you feel like making a mess just to see if someone reacts. Mr. Reed's house looks like a Scandinavian catalog showroom with touches of intellectual claustrophobia. But that's where the film is smart: the horror isn't in the blood or the scares.