THE DE-FLOWERING OF EVA VAN END

When Friet an impossibly perfect German exchange student comes to stay with teenage Eva and her family in their home in rural Holland, life as they know it changes almost beyond recognition. Up till then this dysfunctional family has somehow coasted along, but that was all before Friet fed them doubt, fear, insecurity and even desire.

Eva's parents Evert and Etty were on the brink of celebrating their 25th Wedding Anniversary, something that Etty, bored with both husband and children alike has very little enthusiasm for.  Fliet is the first person ever to show her some attention, and she soon latches on to his meditating as maybe her salvation, even though she cannot 'empty her mind' as he instructs.  Evert is impressed when he catches Friet on the computer chatting with a small boy in Africa who he sends money too, and so he too ends up being taken in by the boy's conning and next day he promises to send his entire savings to him.  Erwin is 20 and about to set up his own apartment with his fiance until Friet makes him feel/think that maybe he is in fact gay. Manual is a tough 16 year old gang leader who feels threatened by Fliet's popularity, and his easy success with women.

And then there is tubby friendless Eva who is teased relentlessly by her class mates and ignored by even her own family.  Even though she has absolutely nothing in common with Fliet, she squirrels her way into his bed and he obliges her without any sign of emotion.

This odd-ball quirky comedy has quite rightly been likened to that of a Wes Anderson movie.  Seeing this somewhat wacky family re-invent themselves so is really quite funny. However, whilst I like rather bizarre humour, I appreciate it is something of an acquired taste.  A little like the weiners that Manuel wins prizes for eating in bulk!

★★★★★★★

IT'S ALL SO QUIET

From the recent Berlin Film Festival comes this overwhelmingly sad tale of a closeted gay Dutch farmer whose intensely private and repressed life seems to be heading towards either the point of no-return or a major turning point.  Helmer is 55 years old and when he is not attending to the few cattle and sheep he tends on this small isolated farm, he is looking after his aged father whose health is rapidly diminishing.  Both are men of few words and it is very clear that even though they are dependent on each other, they can barely tolerate each other's company.  In this slow pot-boiler of a story we only learn towards the very end, why the father and son loathe each other.

The middle-aged dairy truck driver who comes to collect the milk daily, is equally shy as Helmer, although he  is obviously keen on the farmer.  There is the definite possibility that Helmer feels a similar attraction but as he has been starved of any  human contact for so long, he cannot respond to either the driver, or even to the female neighbor who offers to help care for his father.  So the Driver announces he is quitting his job and leaving the area to go live with his sister.

When Helmer employs Henk an 18 year old to be a live-in farmhand, the young man turns out to be equally as lonely as him. He reaches out to Helmer one night in desperation, but he of course has no idea of how to even start to comfort the youth, so the lad soon leaves.

Despite it's slow pace and the unrelenting sadness of Helmer's solitude, there is something remarkable compelling in this tale of repression that ensures you are vested in its outcome.  As his father fades rapidly, Helmer takes to re-decorating the Farmhouse for the first time in years.  It is the first visible sign that he actually has any hope for his future when he will be totally alone.  And then, amongst the mourners at his father's funeral, he spots the Dairy Driver who has returned to do more than just pay his respects.

The relief you feel as the movie ends is quickly shattered when you see from the credits that the movie is dedicated to the memory of the late Jeroen Willems who had played Helmer so superbly.  It is a beautiful performance and a wonderful tribute to a remarkable actor.

★★★★★★★★

MEET THE FOKKENS

69 year old identical Dutch twins Martine and Louise Fokken give a new meaning to the word sexagenarian. Both of them have been working as prostitutes in Amsterdam's red light district for almost 50 years now, and Marianne is still plying her trade daily. (Louise retired 2 years ago when arthritis meant she 'couldnt get one leg over each other' any more)!

In this truly delightful documentary we discover that they are a wonderfully colorful irascible pair of Rubenesque women who have such joie de vivre. The film starts with following elderly Martine as she catches the bus from the suburbs clutching her tiny chihuahua (which she NEVER ever seems to put down) and en route to work calls in at the convenience store to pick up another box of 144 condoms.  Immensely affable she greets everyone she meets with her big smile and constant chatter as if she is just heading for another day at the office.

Setting up her room she hangs her accouterments to show to passing strangers that she offers dominatrix and other kinky services for her 'naughty' men, and then dressed very provocatively sits in her large window enticing then to come in.  The fact that all the 'working girls' in adjoining 'windows' are barely 20 years old seems to hardly bother this old trooper at all.

The sisters explain that very few of the punters want full intercourse but just to simply 'get their rocks off,' and the film includes some hilarious scenes with Martine and her gentlemen callers and how easily she can get them to be satisfied.  What should be regarded as an intensely sexual experience seems to be harmless and a somewhat funny episode for the men who appear to enjoy the free cup of coffee afterwards just as much.

The sisters are inseparable and do literally everything together and live in their own apartments that are in buildings opposite each other.  They dress in the same bright gaudy clothes, finish each other's sentences and clearly are each other's best friend. We see them in conversation with each other and also alone talking unguardedly straight to the camera about their lives to date.  The information they reveal is somewhat patchy which makes their story even more intriguing. When Louise was 19 years old and already a mother of 3 children her physically abusive husband 'forced' her into working as a prostitute and Martine seemed to follow almost to support her sister's indignity and precarious situation.

They touch on the fact that they made so much money in the early days, but now stuck in municipal housing there is no sign of it at all. They are fiercely independent and talk about the days when they broke  away from the organized crime 'pimp' system and even opened up their own brothel at one time. And there is a scene when Louise is reconciled with one of her daughters but no real explanation is offered as to why the child grew up with foster parents.  Its almost like there is a whole another movie to be made here.

The sisters own pleasure now is in painting bright garish canvases of scenes of their life in the Red Light District.  Like the women themselves their artwork can best be described as somewhat naive. They do however make for a wonderful scene towards the end of the film when they are exhibited in a Gallery and all their old cronies turn up to show their support and their genuine love for these two unstoppable women.

They are two good-natured women with an infectious sense of humor who have obviously led a tough life yet appear to bare no scars or even deep resentments even, and the final scene where they are frolicking together in the snow like a couple of silly schoolgirls shows what a wonderful resilient couple they are.

A sheer joy to watch, and even enough reason to check up flight schedules to Amsterdam.

★★★★★★★★★

BLACK BUTTERFLIES.

It’s so hard not to think of Sylvia Plath when you watch this heart-wrenching biopic of the celebrated but deeply troubled South African poet Ingrid Jonker as both of then took their own lives at a young age.  Plath was just 30 when she poisoned herself in 1963, and Jonker drowned herself two years later when she was barely 31.  Both women also had complex relationships with their respective fathers, which contributed to their deep un-happiness.

Filmmaker Paula Van der Oest’s fascinating profile opens on a glorious Cape Town beach where Ingrid is struggling with the strong tides and is saved from drowning by a handsome older stranger who turns out to be the novelist Jack Cape. When Jack discovers Ingrid’s identity he professes to be a fan of her work, but very soon after that he starts an affair with her (he already has a wife and two children) and is quickly declaring his love too.

Ingrid, recently separated from her husband after a very short marriage has a two year old daughter, also falls heavily for Jack but she soon engineers the first of many break-up’s with one of her frequent emotional flare ups when Jack fails to responds to all of her demands.  Ingrid’s irrationality and her highly-strung nature are not so much about attention seeking but her very desperate and real need to be loved.  Yet when pregnant with Jack’s child she secretly takes herself to a back street abortionist  without  telling a soul.

When Jack won't give her the attention she wants Ingrid doesn't hesitate in finding another man/men who will, including the newly married novelist Eugene Maritz. He, like Jack, will also end up telling the highly demanding Ingrid ‘you drain me!’  Despite her ambivalence, it is Jack that stands by her one way or another, and it is he that rescues her work from one of the several Mental Institutions she has been confined in, and brings it home to edit it all into what will eventually become her award winning book of Poetry that really establishes her literary reputation

Ingrid's  father had divorced her mother before she had been born, and she was only 10 years old when her mother died and her father that she never knew took her, and her sister, to live with him and his 3^rd wife and their children where they were treated like strangers.  Mr. Jonkers was a leading rightwing racist Member of Parliament, and even though when Ingrid grew up and her politics where at the totally opposite end of the scale, she never stopped trying to win his love and/or approval.  There is one very poignant scene when she pleads with her father to read her latest poem ‘The Child That Was Shot Dead’ about an outrageous incident she had witnessed but he in real anger just rips the paper to shreds.  He takes her in to give her a roof over her head when she was homeless even though he hates her (‘you are a slut’ he shouts) but in the end he gets his revenge by agreeing that the latest Mental Institution that she has been confined can give her electric shack treatment which finally breaks her spirit.

These were turbulent times in South Africa and the black majority were still being kept in their place by the white Afrikaner’s and her vehement opposition to apartheid greatly affected Ingrid and her work.  It’s rather fitting that many years later Nelson Mandela chose to read the same poem that had once so incensed Ingrid’s father.  The date was 1994, and the occasion was the Opening of the first Democratically Elected Parliament in South Africa. It's a fitting tribute to the passionate eloquent prose of a woman whose legacy lasted longer than her short life.

I will totally put my hands up at admitting that I had never even heard of Ms. Jonkers until I caught sight of this movie.  In it she is stunningly played by Dutch actress Carice van Houten who strikes such a fine balance of a troubled soul that could still pour out this remarkable work.  The poems themselves that are quoted throughout the work are exceptionally moving and will make you want to read more.

Tough and sad story: beautifully told.

★★★★★★★★