The False Heart (2012)

Therese moves between two worlds. A maid in the household of the Countess Meta von W., she is in love with her sophisticated mistress. As a woman of humble origins, she must look on as her sister Magdalena is dragged towards the abyss by a diabolical sect leader. Together with the notorious priest Thomas Pöschl, she casts out demons from people in the village. Children are made to renounce the devil, a young woman undergoes a brutal exorcism and is later proclaimed a saint by Pöschl. When the village priest seeks help from the Countess, the noblewoman embarks on a voyage of discovery to the village, accompanied by Therese. At remote farms, she discovers people who no longer seem to be of this world. Children climb fruit trees to worship the Holy Ghost, girls kneel whispering before Therese's sister in the fields. Meta summons the new priest to her palace. Can she ward off this growing danger or is a new and perilous force about to sweep over this part of rural Upper Austria, destroying everything that is not pure and holy? The False Heart is loosely based on historical facts as recorded in source documents. The film reveals not only the rituals, rites and human sacrifices carried out by the Pöschlians, but also the sect's fanatical mindset. Cajetan Jacob spent three years working on the screenplay, weaving the historical facts into a fictional story of lesbian love. The result is an appeal for tolerance that is as profound as it is spectacular.