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One of the many wee joys of this gentle absurdist Dutch comedy is that newbie director/writer Dierderik Ebbinge wastes no time in bothering with explaining the protagonist’s history but plunges you straight into the delightful and extremely odd story expecting you to fill in the blanks as the plot unfolds. By the time it literally peaks (and the clue is in the title) you cannot fail to be completely entranced by this quirky tale of people having second chances.Fred lives in a neat one-windmill village in rural Netherlands where time seems to have stopped completely still. The only sign that its a contemporary tale is that they use Euros, but asides from that there is not a sign of anything like a mobile phone or a laptop computer, and people still take the ancient looking bus to go to the supermarket in the nearest town. This suits 50 something-year-old grief-stricken devout Calvinist Fred who has never recovered from the death of his wife some years previously, and the absence of their only son who he threw out of the house, and he is a stickler to his daily routine that he has fine-tuned down to the exact minute.
Then suddenly out of the blue one summers day he encounters a stranger in the village who he hesitantly befriends, or rather takes under his wing. The man is mentally challenged and seemingly homeless and seems incapable of saying anything beyond ‘yeah’. Theo is however gentle and willing to please, so Fred literally ‘adopts’ him and drills him into joining him in his detailed daily itinerary. This includes going to church on Sunday and although the fire and brimstone Pastor may preach about giving refuge to the poor, he and the neighbors take great umbrage with Fred when he literally does just that. Particularly Kamps who lives next door but then, as so often in this story, he has another valid excuse for ensuring everybody gives Fred a hard time.
Fred is somewhat bewildered by the prospect of sharing his home and life with another person whose only skills seem to be that he can make very convincing animal noises, a talent he is embarrassingly practicing in the supermarket one day when he is approached by another customer who enquires if he would perform at his child’s birthday party. At dinner that night Fred insists that as Theo’s clothes are quite rank he should go shower and throw them in to the machine and that he can borrow something from his own wardrobe to wear. Obedient to the letter Theo does just this and comes back wearing one of Fred’s late wife’s frocks.
By now Fred has already broken a cardinal rule of his Church and is liberally knocking back the schnapps, so he takes Theo’s unexpected clothing choice in his stride and insists they start to work on an Act to perform at the party. Next morning when Fred wakes up with a fierce hangover he discovers that Theo is already up and still wearing the dress is outside trying to play football with the local kids who are shouting at him with nasty homophobic taunts. The normally reserved and conservative Fred jumps to his defense and quickly rescues his new friend.The relationship between the two men is not homosexual but simply fulfilling the different needs they both have as they search for something they have lost. Theo, whose mental condition is a result of a bad accident, is desperate for a home and affection and Fred needs to recover some of the closeness and love he misses since he lost his wife and son. It’s part of a sad undercurrent in this otherwise comic tale and which I do not want to enlarge on in any further for fear of giving away any of the total unpredictable and rather charming plot lines, but I will just hint that you can put your Kleenex’s away by the end.
I simply had no idea that Dutch filmmakers had not only just a wonderful dry sense of humor but such vivid imaginations too. The way that the two main characters evolve (especially Fred) from uptight and rank conservative to be so open hearted and generous is a joy to witness, particularly as it is all so subtly underplayed. Director Ebbinge is actually a famous Dutch TV actor which may account for some of his excellent casting decisions using local talented veteran actors who are unknown to a wider audience. Until now that is.
This bizarre oddball movie is undoubtedly a wee gem that I am so thrilled I stumbled upon. It has being picking up Audience Favorite Awards at Festival all over the world (inc. Moscow) so I hope it will eventually show up on Art House screen near you soon. I’m going to track it and will keep this updated.
