Dutch

Housewife Christine M. tries to shoplift some merchandise from a boutique in a shopping mall but is caught by the male shopkeeper. Christine and two other customers, waitress Annie and secretary Anna, beat the man to death, witnessed by a large group of other female shoppers. They are tried with murder and deny the plea of insanity that the male prosecutor and judges assume they should plead. The female criminal psychiatrist assigned to ascertain their level of sanity comes to identify with the women’s situations and concludes that they are not insane but have been driven to murder by the strain of living in a patriarchy. This feminist drama in which a Woman Psychiatrist is appointed by the Court to investigate the sanity of three women, all strangers, for beating a male boutique owner to death.Read More »

North/South Triptych – Part I. The impending birth of the director’s youngest child motivates him to explore the society in which it will have to live. Shot in the Cameroons, Morocco and the Netherlands, this film, the first of a series of three, attempts to define, from hoe to computer, the relationship between the poor, developing countries of the South and the rich, industrialized Northern countries.Read More »

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Due to lack of evidence, Jonathan, a kind hearted young man, is released from prison. He returns to his mother who lives in a small house near the dunes. Jonathan is determined to become a different, better man. But even if he strictly obeys the rules, his good intentions are soon put to the test when a young girl comes to live next to him.Read More »

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Surreal love story between Harry and Jeanne, who live in the same appartment block. Harry just came to Brussels and works in a restaurant. Jeanne tries to find out why he never says I love You to her.Read More »

With very little dialogue, this Dutch film artfully details the declining years of the legendary master artist, Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-69), who ended his days in near-poverty. In the movie, van Rijn has just moved to Amsterdam and, following the death of his wife, takes to riotous living with easy women and too much drink, spending himself into penury. The filmmakers have taken great care to ensure that what is seen on the screen resembles the lively paintings of the Great Master himself. (Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide)Read More »

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The central character in Rooksporen is a woman who finds herself facing an interrogator. Around these interrogation scenes are scenes in which 26 witnesses (from A to Z) are introduced: first in their houses and then in a space adjacent to the interrogation room. The questioner has an ambiguous identity and function: he directs his questions at the woman and then turns away only listening and watching as a sounding-board, to the witnesses. And the witnesses also have an elusive identity. Who or what they are remains unclear, they exist thanks to the sensuality and/or obscurity of their language. It is also far from clear what the woman is accused of. Most witnesses eventually think she is guilty, but what of remains the question. Read More »

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A man performs infectious playlets for his surroundings.

A court-jester without a king. The protagonist in the film is an actor (René van het Hof) who is acting his life. He is a nuisance, but only for those who have had enough of his play acting or who are ashamed to be around this clown. His wife breaks up with him because she just can’t tolerate the man any more and he seems to accept that in an apparently matter-of-fact way. He leaves the city for a cottage in the countryside. He soon has a new audience. The woman next door and her daughter are curious to make his acquaintance and are at once enthusiastic about the ingenious simplicity of the shows by this nuisance who is not yet a nuisance to them, but a welcome change in there all-too-ordinary life. Read More »

18-year-old Caspar wants to reach the top, no matter what. He carries out small-time break-ins for Jamal, before moving on to work for big player Björn. All goes well, until Jamal’s gang decide they want revenge. What starts with pushing and shoving soon escalates into armed conflict. This is a big test for Caspar: is he ruthless enough for this battle? And will he drag his younger brother into it?Read More »

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The intense friendship between two thirteen-year old boys Leo and Remi suddenly gets disrupted. Struggling to understand what has happened, Léo approaches Sophie, Rémi’s mother. “Close” is a film about friendship and responsibility.Read More »