I was really surprised to see this film had so many negative user reviews.
The Dutch are not particularly proud of their national cinema. If you'd ask a random Dutch person on the streets about his/her opinion about the country's films, the answer would probably be that only cheesy romcoms are produced there. Yet who is more familiar with Dutch cinema, knows this is nonsense. Among the wonderful Dutch directors are Paul Verhoeven, George Sluizer, Alex van Warmerdam, Bert Haanstra, Nanouk Leopold, and Marleen Gorris.
Also Nouchka van Brakel deserves more appreciation for her oeuvre, as it is surprising and sophisticated. She was the first female film director active in the Netherlands. The Cool Lakes of Death can be considered one of her finest.
The Cool Lakes of Death is a great film. It is based on a book from 1900 by the famous literary writer Frederik van Eeden, who was part of the naturalism movement which highly valued psychoanalysis.
It is a period drama set in the 19th-century Dutch upper class climate, yet its story has not become old. For this reason, both the film and the book have kept their quality.
This poetic and smartly edited film deals with female desire. Adolescence and passion clash with a restrained and protestant upbringing. Love and death chase each other. All these conflicting emotions are convincingly displayed in the performance of lead actress Renée Soutendijk. The scenery of the story at the start is the typicly flat and watery Dutch landscape, fields and forests, dunes and sea, and later the English countryside and Paris. Yet clarity gradually give way to the fogginess of a fever dream during this search for love and happiness.
It could be compared in its themes to Buñuel's Belle de jour, but then different in its formal and stylistic choices. Mubi called it a marriage between James Ivory and Lars von Trier. Certainly not boring, don't hesitate to give this film a chance!
The Dutch are not particularly proud of their national cinema. If you'd ask a random Dutch person on the streets about his/her opinion about the country's films, the answer would probably be that only cheesy romcoms are produced there. Yet who is more familiar with Dutch cinema, knows this is nonsense. Among the wonderful Dutch directors are Paul Verhoeven, George Sluizer, Alex van Warmerdam, Bert Haanstra, Nanouk Leopold, and Marleen Gorris.
Also Nouchka van Brakel deserves more appreciation for her oeuvre, as it is surprising and sophisticated. She was the first female film director active in the Netherlands. The Cool Lakes of Death can be considered one of her finest.
The Cool Lakes of Death is a great film. It is based on a book from 1900 by the famous literary writer Frederik van Eeden, who was part of the naturalism movement which highly valued psychoanalysis.
It is a period drama set in the 19th-century Dutch upper class climate, yet its story has not become old. For this reason, both the film and the book have kept their quality.
This poetic and smartly edited film deals with female desire. Adolescence and passion clash with a restrained and protestant upbringing. Love and death chase each other. All these conflicting emotions are convincingly displayed in the performance of lead actress Renée Soutendijk. The scenery of the story at the start is the typicly flat and watery Dutch landscape, fields and forests, dunes and sea, and later the English countryside and Paris. Yet clarity gradually give way to the fogginess of a fever dream during this search for love and happiness.
It could be compared in its themes to Buñuel's Belle de jour, but then different in its formal and stylistic choices. Mubi called it a marriage between James Ivory and Lars von Trier. Certainly not boring, don't hesitate to give this film a chance!