If you’ve seen the trailer to Heretic, then I’m sure you get the premise: two Mormon missionaries go to Mr Reed’s house to attempt to convert him and find themselves trapped and forced to question their faith. It’s a simple concept, but sometimes simple concepts, when well executed, can be very effective.
Now I’m going to draw an analogy between the film and this website. Imagine, upon entering this website, that none of the links outside of those I shall present to you in the text actually work. You can hover over them, but nothing happens. (They do work, I’m not smart enough to actually disable everything on just these pages.) Imagine you can’t get out of here using the back button. (You can.) The only links that work are those presented to you within this main body of text.
Now, Heretic gets a lot right. The design of the house fits the film’s aesthetic well (even if the myriad rooms presented later reveal a somewhat peculiar blueprint for the whole dwelling, but whatever). It keeps the primary cast small, with our two missionaries, Sister Barners and Sister Paxton (played by Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) doing a grand job.
Hugh Grant plays Mr Reed, and he is brilliant in the part. I’ve got to say, I wasn’t his biggest fan when he first came to my attention, with his floppy-haired schtick in middle class films for middle classed people being of little interest to me. Four Weddings and a Funeral? Love, Actually? The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain? I’ve seen none of them, and won’t go out of my way to change that. (I later discovered The Lair of the White Worm, though…)
Recently, I’ve found him more palatable. His part in The Gentleman was good fun, and he seems to be turning up in all sorts of things. Anyway, regardless of my prejudice, he’s engaging in this as he tries to manipulate the two young missionaries into his way of thinking.
If you’ve had enough of reading about Heretic, and would like to leave and make up your own mind, click here.
If you’d rather continue reading, click here.