Dutch movie Rietland receiving rave reviews at Cannes Film Festival

The first reviews for the Dutch movie Rietland at the Cannes Film Festival have been praiseful. Foreign media outlets have been lauding the psychological thriller made by director Sven Bresser, which has been included in the film festival’s Semaine de la Critique, a list for new, talented directors. It is the first time in 30 years that a Dutch film has been included in this list at the Cannes Film Festival.

Rietland is about a reed cutter who finds a girl’s dead body on his land. The Hollywood Reporter called the film a “hidden gem” at Cannes. The British film magazine Screen described it as a “film debut full of confidence.” The French website CinEuropa praised the "fascinating alienation in this work of great visual beauty.”

Bresser said on Thursday that he is “relieved and proud” that the world premiere of his movie has garnered such positive reviews. “I found it hard to read the audience during the film.” The 33-year-old director said. “With a comedy, it is easy to see that a joke has worked if people are laughing. But the responses were good from all sides. And that is also the feeling that I felt after the screening and at the party.”

In addition to most of the cast and crew, Bresser’s parents were also in the cinema on Wednesday. “I dedicated the movie to my mother,” Bresser said. “She is a photographer, a section of her work takes place at the Reed landscape that I grew up in. That was a starting point for the inspiration for this film.”

The last Dutch film to be shown at Cannes came in 2013. That was Alex van Warmerdam’s movie Borgman, which was shown in the main competition at the festival. Rietland can be seen in Dutch cinemas later this year.