Even though this is 'just' a TV movie, it has the look and feel of 'real cinema'.
The lead roles are played by Dutch stage actors (the movie is based on a successful stage play with the same name, featuring the same actors), but most of these actors were in motion pictures and TV films before, so they know very well (or even remarkably well) how not to play to the balcony.
The cinematography is simply beautiful and the editing is what I would call 'fluent'. A nice rhythm of long, medium and close-up shots and some dolly work at the right times. Some Dutch movies try to look like a reality-TV show, but this one has cinematic qualities.
Since the main theme is friendship eroded by ambition, secrets, and betrayal, it does not really matter that the storyline and settings are a bit 'overburdened' (I mean, a future cabinet minister, a stage director chasing the lead actress in his play, a homosexual civil servant accused of stealing paintings, and an attorney with a cocaine addiction and a tendency to cut himself up - that's richer than Holland's Golden Age ..).
The supporting roles are fine, with Laura (the 18-year old daughter of one of the friends and femme fatale for one of the other friends) delivering some magnificent Lolita eye candy.
Well done, and good news for Dutch cinema. This movie deserves to be on wide-screen celluloid in a theater near you.
8/10.
The lead roles are played by Dutch stage actors (the movie is based on a successful stage play with the same name, featuring the same actors), but most of these actors were in motion pictures and TV films before, so they know very well (or even remarkably well) how not to play to the balcony.
The cinematography is simply beautiful and the editing is what I would call 'fluent'. A nice rhythm of long, medium and close-up shots and some dolly work at the right times. Some Dutch movies try to look like a reality-TV show, but this one has cinematic qualities.
Since the main theme is friendship eroded by ambition, secrets, and betrayal, it does not really matter that the storyline and settings are a bit 'overburdened' (I mean, a future cabinet minister, a stage director chasing the lead actress in his play, a homosexual civil servant accused of stealing paintings, and an attorney with a cocaine addiction and a tendency to cut himself up - that's richer than Holland's Golden Age ..).
The supporting roles are fine, with Laura (the 18-year old daughter of one of the friends and femme fatale for one of the other friends) delivering some magnificent Lolita eye candy.
Well done, and good news for Dutch cinema. This movie deserves to be on wide-screen celluloid in a theater near you.
8/10.