“I arrived by boat, walked along the mowing line and saw a track in the reeds. I followed it and that's where I found her.” It's the discovery of a young girl's corpse with an ant criss-crossing its bare belly that serves as the bait for Sven Bresser's gripping and highly atmospheric Reedland [+lee también:
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ficha de la película], unveiled in competition in Critics' Week of the 78th Cannes Film Festival. The Dutch filmmaker's first feature may seem to take the path of an investigative crime film, but appearances are relatively deceptive and there is much more fascinating strangeness to be found in a work of great visual beauty set in a highly sophisticated mise-en-scène that contrasts perfectly with an almost documentary-like capture of the environment.

“Can you tell me about the day from beginning to end?” For Johan (Gerrit Knobbe, whose face is sculpted like an ancient statue), a solitary widowed farmer, who goes to work every day on his plot of reeds nestled in the heart of the vast wilderness of a marsh, there is nothing complicated about recounting his routine to the two policemen who are questioning him: he cuts, he binds, he burns what gets in the way, then he goes home where only the ticking of the clock accompanies him (as the viewer is able to experience with the nine captivating, wordless minutes that open the film). But the trade is under threat from the fall in prices and quality caused by Chinese containers, from the reassessment of leases in the name of Europe (or the capitalist opportunism of some) and from the brushcutters who destroy the earth and the reeds.

“You have to adapt to change”, “you have to move with the times”: that's what Johan hears. But he resolutely refuses to do so, continuing to look after his mare Grise with affection, to drive along the narrow, straight roads of a country dotted with isolated, dilapidated farms, and to babysit his 11-year-old granddaughter Dana (Loïs Reinders) from time to time. But he is troubled by the discovery of a dead body and sets out to investigate the area himself, while nature reveals a dark and mysterious surprise...

Playing on the codes of the Film Noir detective story with a zest of fantasy and hints of deep psychology, Sven Bresser sows the seeds of doubt and makes the most of the geography in which his story is set. Wind stirring the reeds, sudden torrential rains, deserted farmyards, brush fires, dense forest, black stone, local legends of a hidden monster and a mermaid cursing her captors, sounds piercing the silence: True Detective is in the air, with slight hints of Bruno Dumont (L’humanité), Shyamalan and Lynch, all in the austere vein of methodical Dutch hyper-realism embellished by a particularly meticulous mise-en-scène (work on the off-screen, highly varied framing, etc.) by cinematographer Sam Dupuis. These are all qualities that distinguish the filmmaker as an artist who can suggest a great deal with very little, which promises him a career to watch very closely.

Reedland was produced by Viking Film (Netherlands) and co-produced by A Private View (Belgium). The Party Film Sales will handle international sales.