Kees Fens, Erfgenaam van een Lege Hemel plot
Kees Fens worked for a long time as professor of Dutch language and literature at the University of Nijmegen, received an honorary doctorate from the University of Amsterdam and his essays were awarded the PC Hooft Prize. In short, he is one of the most influential literary critics in the Netherlands. The documentary "Heir to an Empty Heaven" is not about his influence as a critic and essayist. Documentary maker Hans Keller went in search of his relationship with Catholicism and religion. He visited Chartres Cathedral, beloved by Fens, and the Church of St. Claire - now in ruins - where Fens' favorite poet (Francesco Petrarca) first saw the girl he has sung about in his poetry throughout his life. But there are also moments when Keller stays close to home and films in the Chasséstraat in Amsterdam-West, where Fens was born in 1929 as the son of a sailor. He visits the church in the neighborhood with Fens. An empty, dilapidated church that was once 'the happiness of his youth'. Keller also visits the monastery in Tilburg where Fens was a regular guest, where he even wanted to enter.