comedy drama film
Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau
In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.
written and directed by
Alex van Warmerdam
Alex van Warmerdam (born 14 August 1952) is a Dutch screenwriter, film director, and actor. He is also a painter.
Life and career
Van Warmerdam was born in Haarlem, a city in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands. He was cofounder o ...
. It was screened in the
Un Certain Regard
(; 'A Certain Glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob.
The section presents 20 films with unusua ...
section at the
1998 Cannes Film Festival
The 51st Cannes Film Festival took place from 13 to 24 May 1998. American filmmaker Martin Scorsese served as jury president for the main competition. Isabelle Huppert was the host for the opening and closing ceremonies.
Greek filmmaker Theo A ...
.
In a review for ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'', David Rooney called the film " droll comedy", but also mentioning that its "both blacker and more tightly focused".
Plot
Farmer Brand can't read and he is quite happy with that. His wife, Keet, who has to read him all the subtitles on the television, isn't. She decides to hire a teacher for him. This is a beautiful young woman, called Lena. Brand falls in love with her. To his puzzlement and dismay Keet encourages him, because as she says she doesn't want a husband with another woman in his head. She even goes so far as to claim, she's just Brand's sister. She also wants Lena to give Brand and her a son. The love between Brand and Lena does not grow stale as Keet hoped after the birth of little Tony. Keet, who is a barren herself decides Lena has to be eliminated with the arrival of little Tony between them.
Cast
*
Alex van Warmerdam
Alex van Warmerdam (born 14 August 1952) is a Dutch screenwriter, film director, and actor. He is also a painter.
Life and career
Van Warmerdam was born in Haarlem, a city in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands. He was cofounder o ...
as Brand
*
Annet Malherbe
Annet Malherbe (born 23 November 1957) is a Dutch actress. She is known for her roles in films directed by her husband Alex van Warmerdam, such as ''Voyeur'', ''The Northerners'', ''The Dress'', '' Little Tony'' and ''Grimm''. Malherbe was nominat ...
as Keet
*
Ariane Schluter
Ariane Schluter (born 1 February 1966) is a Dutch actress. She is best known for playing in films by such Dutch filmmakers as Alex van Warmerdam and Theo van Gogh.
Career
Ariane Schluter studied at the Maastricht Academy of Dramatic Arts. A ...
as Lena
*Sebastiaan te Wierik as Kleine Teun
*Aat Ceelen as Butcher
*
Beppe Costa
Beppe Costa (born 25 August 1941) is an Italian poet, novelist and publisher.
Biography
The beginning
Born into a poor family grows, however, in an environment rich in books.
He published the first volume of poems in 1970Thomas Rap as Man at strawheap
*Hanneke Riemer as Friend of Lena
*Dolf Sauter as Priest
*Tomas te Wierk as Teun
*Houk van Warmerdam as Acolyte
*Marc van Warmerdam as Neighbour
*Mees van Warmerdam as Acolyte