''Waiter'' () is a 2006 Dutch-Belgian absurdist

black comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

film 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 tells the story of Edgar, a discontented

waiter Waiting staff (British English, BrE), waiters () / waitresses (), or servers (AmE) are those who work at a restaurant, a diner, or a Bar (establishment), bar and sometimes in private homes, attending to customers by supplying them with food an ...

. The film had its world premiere on the

Toronto Film Festival Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

on 10 September 2006. It was the opening film of the

Netherlands Film Festival The Netherlands Film Festival () is an annual film festival, held in September and October of each year in the city of Utrecht. During the ten-day festival, Dutch film productions and co-productions are exhibited. Besides feature films, the prog ...

, where ''Waiter'' received two Golden Calves, for Best Scenario and Best Production Design. In January 2007 the film received a

Golden Film The Golden Film () is a film award recognizing domestic box office achievements in the Netherlands. The Golden Film is awarded to films from the Netherlands once they have sold . The award is an initiative by the Netherlands Film Festival and t ...

. The film is about stagnation of creativity and a take on overbearing of elements in life, it also takes wryly a puck-shot at god and his relation with humans.

Plot

''Waiter'' tells the story of Edgar (

), a waiter with a flair for the unfortunate. His sick wife, Ilse (Sylvia Poorta), is overly rude to him. Customers at work constantly bully him and his neighbors make his life impossible. Fed up with the way his life is going, Edgar goes to the house of Herman (Mark Rietman), the scriptwriter who invented Edgar and is currently writing his story. Edgar complains about the events in his life that keep getting worse and begs for some positive events in his life, including a decent girlfriend. Herman decides to create Stella ( Line Van Wambeke), but soon Edgar realizes that Stella will only complicate his life more. Meanwhile, Edgar is pestered by his pushy girlfriend Victoria ( Ariane Schluter), who constantly tries to be with him. Driven to insanity by Herman and his obnoxious girlfriend Suzie (

Thekla Reuten Thekla Simona Gelsomina Reuten (born 16 September 1975) is a Dutch actress. Life and career Reuten was born in Bussum, Netherlands, the daughter of a Dutch father, Joost Reuten, and an Italian mother, who was born in Benabbio near Bagni di Lucc ...

), Edgar constantly tries to interfere with his story. Herman decides to make the story more extreme and violent and finally ends the story out of desperation with Edgar's death.

Cast

as Edgar * Ariane Schluter as Victoria * Jakop Ahlbom as Stanley *

Mark Rietman Mark Rietman (born 28 November 1960) is a Dutch actor. He appeared in more than forty films since 1985. Selected filmography References External links * 1960 births Living people Dutch male film actors 20th-century Dutch people ...

as Herman *

as Suzie * Line Van Wambeke as Stella

Awards

* Golden Calf for Best Script (2006)Winnaars Gouden Kalveren 2006

, 2006. Retrieved on 8 October 2006. * Golden Calf for Best Production Design (2006) *

(2007)

References

External links

* {{Alex van Warmerdam 2006 films 2006 black comedy films 2000s Dutch-language films 2000s English-language films Films directed by Alex van Warmerdam Films with screenplays by Alex van Warmerdam 2006 multilingual films Dutch multilingual films Dutch black comedy films English-language Dutch films 2000s Belgian films English-language black comedy films A-Film Distribution films