A Matter of Patience is a new romantic comedy directed by Ruud Schuurman, director of Everything is as it should be.
The film is about chef Monica (Barbara Sloesen), who runs a successful restaurant and wants to expand it together with her boyfriend. She wants to use the money from her parents' inheritance for this. Monica only inherited half and the other half went to her boyfriend Sjeffie (Frans Dam), with whom she had a relationship at the time.
To claim this half, she has to go from Amsterdam to Noorbeek, her native village in South Limburg. Here she is soon confronted with her past by getting in touch with her old friends and acquaintances. This experience makes her doubt herself and her choices, because perhaps she should never have left the village and the people for Amsterdam.
Dutch romantic comedies are often known as films filled with clichés and repetitive stories. This new Dutch romantic comedy manages to come across as a mixed copy of two other films that even hit the cinemas earlier this year. For example, the aspect that the main character is a chef quickly reminds of the character Soof from the Soof film series. Despite another reason, the fact that the main character in the film has to travel back to her native village is reminiscent of the film Heart in the Right Place.
This film itself also comes across as a bit ragged, because Monica is given a short introduction to her native village in the beginning. Then, at an older age, she suddenly finds herself in Amsterdam with a successful restaurant and love partner. Then, when she goes to Noorbeek, most of the other characters welcome her kindly and they reminisce about old memories together. Due to the lack of background information, it feels as a viewer as if you are going to a reunion with someone, without really knowing people there. As a result, you as a viewer don't really care about the mutual relationships that Monica has with the rest. The relationship she has with her ex Sjeffie is also not really clear. The two first come across as exes, who don't want to know anything about each other. Later, this is forced to change, so that the relationship no longer comes across as credible.
In addition to being copied and known, the film also comes across as somewhat rushed. For example, two characters go to lunch together, but barely take a bite and then quickly leave one by one without, for example, a clear sign that one of the two has paid for lunch. Furthermore, the standard story makes the film a bit predictable, so that you as a viewer can lose interest in the story and the film only comes across as long-winded.
Barbara Sloesen tries to do well in the lead role, but because her character often comes across as a spoiled brat, the viewer doesn't really care about her. Thanks to her rebellious negative thought about her native village, this does not come out very well in the first film. The movie also has too many different characters that you as a viewer don't get enough information about to really care about one. With fewer characters, this might have worked better.
Many also speak with a Limburg accent and are not always subtitled. For example, some may seem unclear to people who are not familiar with the Limburg accent. The film nicely shows the culture and customs of Noorbeek and the Limburg environment.
