De wisselwachter

Shot in a very desolate place, this movie tells the story of a pointsman in the middle of nowhere, and a woman that mistakenly leaves the train in that particular stop. It was shot in a full year so the film could capture the ambient and the different colours of the four seasons - Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. A very strange but at the same time very attractive movie.

I've seen De Wisselwachter for the first time about fifteen years ago, but this movie is still with me in some way, and sometimes I feel the need to see it again. The director guides us in an absurd story with an absurd background, but like in a dream, the disbelief never settles in and we are projected in the little world of the movie as it was a perfectly coherent parallel universe. The events in the storyline are scarce, but the tension is always very high, like in a well-made thriller, and the attention of the viewer never fleets.

The visuals are stunning, with no shot falling short of having a perfect composition and gorgeous colors. The sound is used sparingly - the film is nearly completely speechless and the music is used with great parsimony, only the ambient noise is always present - but with great effect. Very original and throughly enjoyable.

While traveling by train, a woman (Stéphane Excoffier) mistakenly gets out in a remote station when the train stops in the middle of the night. Sooner she finds that a weird lonely pointsman (Jim van der Woude) that does not speak her language is the only person in that area and that that was the last train in that track. The man lodges her in his house and they develop an unusual wordless relationship between them.

"De Wisselwachter" is an overrated boredom, with a different but uninteresting story that goes nowhere. I like movies Off-Hollywood, but this story is too absurd and has no message in the end. The sexual tension between the two lead characters is funny in a moment but too repetitive. I saw this movie in an old VHS and the image is too dark; I do not know whether on DVD the image would be of better quality. In the end, I was absolutely disappointed with this feature. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "O Homem da Linha" ("The Man of the Line")

Watch this movie if you're tired of explosions, car crashes, and talks. You will go to great lengths without hearing a word from thoses lunatics on the mission shown on a screen. In addition to the unpredictable events you'll also find some beautiful music and landscapes as well as several subplots that will make you scratching your head for a while.

Movies like this are the reason I don´t like Hollywood movies. All Stelling´s movie are simply brilliant. But who knows them. De Wisselwachter is quite, slow, with almost no dialogues. At the same time it´s very funny and full of surprises. You don´t have to think and be clutterd up with thousands of words which explain everything. You just sit and feel the atmosphere and emotions. Wonderful!!!