He may be a director who works quite infrequently, and his output is often seen as divisive at best, but Hal Hartley is one of those filmmakers whose entire career embodies the spirit of pure independence. One of the pioneers of the movement towards more small-scale, arthouse-inspired productions, he has been celebrated as one of the first truly independent film auteurs, someone whose work reflects his cynical worldview and absurd sense of humour. His magnum opus is Henry Fool, a film that showcases both his command of the darkest kind of comedy and his ability to thrill us with the most intimate, earnest stories. It was also the first in a trilogy of films, each of them standing on its own (and thus you don’t need to have experience with the previous ones to understand those that came after – although it is an immense benefit since Hartley does insert many references to the earlier films that are supplementary and add to the experience considerably), but woven together to create a dynamic and fascinating multi-decade tapestry of a variety of characters, each one a unique creation by one of the most deceptively brilliant filmmakers of his generation. Fay Grim is the second entry into the series and is often seen as the lesser (in comparison to Henry Fool and Ned Rifle, which bookend the trilogy), but yet is possibly the most ambitious of the three, being a daring and provocative examination of a woman teetering dangerously close on a mental breakdown, which is not helped by the many misfortunes and mishaps she encounters in her usually tranquil life, all of which form the foundation for this wickedly funny and endlessly subversive crime thriller that proves Hartley’s immense gifts as both a visual stylist and storyteller.

The issue of sequels is a contentious one – for every decent and artistically resonant follow-up to a wildly successful film, there are a dozen that are done purely for the sake of capitalistic gain, rather than for anything solid in terms of artistic integrity. Fay Grim is the second part of what the director envisioned as a trilogy long before he even made the first film in the series, which is immediately reason for us to pay attention. The extent to which his original ideas still exist in the final product isn’t clear (especially since there wasn’t any chance he came up with some of these themes in the early 1990s, since the film is a clear response to certain subjects that only came about several years later), but the foundation is there, especially in how Hartley uses both the existing actors from Henry Fool and those exclusive to this film, introduced into this story, which is essentially placing one of the smaller supporting characters into the spotlight. It isn’t necessarily a spin-off, since it follows the continuity of the original film and still centres on the exploits of Henry Fool and his various misadventures, but it does redirect the story through a different character. Considering this, something that Fay Grim does very well is that it manages to be quite different, both tonally and narratively, to the previous film – since this is aiming to be a film that can be either viewed in conjunction with the other two in the trilogy, or simply watched on its own, it was important that it establishes a strong story that is not dependent on too much context (and what is required is given through exposition), and also offers something to those who enjoyed the previous film and want to see the story continued, albeit in a form just as unexpected as our previous encounter with this motley crew of eccentric characters. Fay Grim keeps the same radical tone, but it expands on it in a way that allows it to be much more compelling on its own, which was a smart decision and one that allows it to be a terrific entry into this trilogy.

Part of what inspired Hartley to pursue Fay Grim was his experiences working with Parker Posey, who played the same character in Henry Fool but shoehorned into supporting the characters played by Thomas Jay Ryan (as the titular Henry) and James Urbaniak, who were essentially the central focus of the previous film. There has never been any doubt that Posey is capable of doing anything – she’s one of our finest actors and someone who never turns in a performance that is anything less than fully realised in its commitment and brilliance. Fay Grim is one of the rare instances where she is allowed to lead a film, rather than being a scene-stealing supporting player (which is normally where she thrives), and she has an even bigger task in terms of playing this protagonist, who is a woman who is trying her best to stay afloat while completing a perilous mission. Many of us may not initially expect Posey to be someone who would thrive in the part of a rambunctious action hero, but she subverts our expectations very easily and proves that even when doing such challenging work that requires her to operate at her peak in terms of both physical and psychological complexity, she is a master of her craft, and truly just an astonishingly great performer. The supporting cast is peppered with a variety of actors, many of which (such as Ryan, Urbaniak and Liam Aiken) reprise their roles from Henry Fool, while others like Jeff Goldblum, Saffron Burrows and Elina Löwensohn make their debut into Hartley’s world – and it’s a universally terrific cast that all seem willing to surrender to the director’s vision, playing these parts with precision and complexity, much more than we’d normally expect from a film that seems to be so peculiar in how it is essentially caught between two major genres, never quite settling on one, which only enriches these performances and gives the actors a lot more interesting material with which they can work.

What is not spoken about as widely in regards to Fay Grim is how, even beyond expanding on the world Hartley and his cohorts created years before, it stands as a remarkable film all on its own, a work of impactful and unforgettable merit that plays like a complex espionage thriller. The first act of the film misleads us into thinking that what we are about to see is essentially a dark comedy tinged with action, rather than a complex psychological thriller that sees Posey play a globe-trotting hero tasked with retrieving a document that could potentially cause an international crisis if it falls into the wrong hands. Considering how most of his work of small and intimate, it was surprising that Hartley took the risk of making a film that was skirting around the mainstream, which is something many of his colleagues in the independent film industry would avoid, thinking it would be a betrayal of their promise to tell very human stories. Yet, he easily works around this by making Fay Grim as thought-provoking as it is action-packed, proving that a film can demonstrate both brains and brawn in equal measure if the right amount of effort is put into the production. It may not always be the most polished when it comes to the more ambitious and visually complex moments, but Hartley is fully in command, taking this story and filtering it through a very unconventional lens that feels both thrilling and unsettling. The use of Dutch angles for the entirety of the film puts us on edge and reflects the jagged, off-kilter nature of the world and how the director intends to depict it, and the disquieting details that underpin the story become the primary reason behind the film’s radical success.

Fay Grim is the kind of film that doesn’t seem all that alluring in theory – it looks very quiet and intimate on the surface, and a cursory glance at the synopsis will imply that one needs to have experienced Henry Fool to appreciate this one – and while it is beneficial and helps shade in the more ambigious character-based moments in the plot, it isn’t necessary, and it can be enjoyed in complete isolation, divorced of any previous knowledge. This is primarily because Hartley understands the importance of what he is making here – it isn’t enough to make a sequel to a very successful film by resting on your laurels and doing exactly what made the previous film successful, but instead taking the most essential elements and filtering them through a more original, subversive and delightfully irreverent perspective that allows him to add a new set of themes, expanding on the world he meticulously created, but also introducing a range of brand new ideas that help make it a complex work all on its own. Hartley should be appreciated more, since his ability to tell diverse stories in terms of both narrative and genre structure is unprecedented, and his wicked sense of humour allows him to craft deeply intriguing tales of cultural decay and the darker side of humanity, while never once seeming like he is out of his depth. His importance as an early voice in contemporary independent cinema is incredibly strong, and his decision to work quite infrequently makes each film a bespoke, unique piece of art, which comes to have an even greater meaning when placed alongside each other. Fay Grim isa terrific film, and one of the more audacious films of the past couple of decades, proving to be as thrilling and enticing as any other Europe-based espionage thriller, with the only difference being that here, we see an equal balance between narrative and action, which is something that we will hopefully see more of in the coming years, since it is proven to be quite successful when done right.