FuzzyTagz
If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
Marva
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
Isbel
A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
Camera Obscura
FATHER'S AFFAIR (Maarten Treurniet - Netherlands 2003).I was just on my way out to catch ZWARTBOEK, the latest film by Paul Verhoeven, in cinema when my party canceled at the very last moment and at the same time this movie started on television. By pure chance, DE PASSIEVRUCHT features the same two female stars, Carice van Houten en Halina Reijn.After the sudden death of his wife (Carice van Houten) Armin Houderhout (Peter Paul Muller) finds out he was sterile all his life, but he has a 14-year old son. His new girlfriend (Halina Reijn) urges him to let it rest, but he persist and wants to find out who the father of his child is. Based on the novel by Karel Glastra van Loon, the film is constructed as a whodunit, a pleasant diversion from the self-indulgent novel, that works perfectly for the film. Basically well acted, well shot and a very good screenplay by Kees van Beijnum.No cinematic innovations, just well crafted film-making by Treurniet et co. and for current acting in Dutch cinema, this is about as good as it gets. Peter Paul Muller, Carice van Houten, Halina Reijn, Frank Lammers, Jan Decleir, they all give very good performances. Just as I mentioned, I fell into this in the first few minutes when it came on TV, but I kept on watching it and was sucked into the story almost immediately. Fast-paced and humor to spare. One of the highlights: when Armin (Muller) is (practically hiding) in the bathroom smoking a joint to calm his nerves, just as he is about to have sex with two women (Carice van Houten en Halina Reijn) and Carice van Houten tries to persuade him to come out of the bathroom and presses her boobs against the glass door. That's my kind of fun, but don't worry, it's an insightful film. Camera Obscura --- 8/10
TheOtherFool
Make no mistake about it: this is a Dutch movie. So there's a woman stripping naked within the first minute. Now, considering that woman is Carice van Houten there probably won't be many complaints, but still...Van Houten is Monika, the now dead first wife of Armin (an uninspiring Peter Paul Muller) and mother of their child, Bo. After the dead of his wife, Armin moved on and lives together with a good friend of his first wife, Ellen (Halina Reijn). When they just won't get pregnant, it turns out Armin is infertile, and has been his whole life. So who is the father of his son?The rest of the movie is a search for the real father, and a portrait of how Armin and his 'son' try to deal with the news and each other. As said, the acting of Muller is pretty wooden, and that's too bad as the story isn't a complete waste (perhaps except the preposterous ending).But as a whole, it somehow doesn't fit... Things just won't get that interesting and exciting, and the movie kinda drags along. I won't call it a bad movie in any way, just nothing special I suppose... Now, if you're into Van Houten on the other hand...5/10.
elmersmaling
De Passievrucht is an adaptation of the debute novel of the relatively young but talented Dutch writer Karel Glastra van Loon. Years ago I read his second novel (Lisa's adem, or 'Lisa's breath'), was fascinated by it, and planned on reading his first. As usual, I never got to it. Fortunately, they recently made a movie out of his book, so last night I went and saw it in the cinema.They did a great job. This movie is about a man who finds out he has been sterile all his life. This has two consequences: first, he and his girlfriend will never be able to have kids of their own, and second, his thirteen years old son can't actually be his son. His wife, who died nine years ago, can't tell him who the real father is anymore. But he must know. So he starts his quest for the painful truth. A number of old friends are interrogated, and his girlfriend suffers the consequences. She's in deep pain about never being able to have children, and meanwhile, all he does is chase his own nightmare.How events eventually unfold will remain a mystery to you, my dear reader, until you watch the movie. Which I highly recommend you to do. It's a great movie about father-son relationships, about love, about sex and passion, about cheating. The movie's got humor, it has tears, it has a lot of anger. And it features the ever-sympathetic actor Frank Lammers!!
nitzpitz
possible spoilersI usually avoid Dutch movies, but I saw this one in a sneak preview. I must say that the first 5 minutes were full of all my prejudices against the Dutch cinema, but the rest of the movie was above my expectations. As you probably know Dutch movies are famous for their explicit sex scenes. THe movie starts with one. But it turns out to be a rather good and well balanced drama about a man that has just found out he has always been infertile. This forms a problem, because he has a teenage son from his late wife. The big question is... WHO is the father??? The rest of the movie is about his search for the father of his son. There are detective elements in the movie, but also drama and fortunatly there are also comic moments.I would never had gone to this movie on my one, but I can certainly recomend it. The acting is fine, the storyline interesting and the camera work is nice.
