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It's a film made in 2009, but what it tried to address as a sub plot was miles better than what Love Cuts did through an entire film, with a better cast, direction, and of course, budget. Stricken is a Dutch film directed by Reinout Oerlmans, based on a novel by Raymond van de Kulndert, that deals with romance, sickness and mortality all rolled into one, firm in its focus on the principle characters whom you'd probably see shades of someone in your circle, and is about life's journey that everyone will have to go through.

When we're young, the world is our oyster and the sky's the limit. There's this feeling of invincibility that nothing can touch us, and that we're infallible. That is until Fate almost always know how to throw a curve ball at us, so that we and others around us will get to learn some lessons, eat humble pie, and start to seriously look at what we're doing with our lives. Stijn (Barry Atsma) is a high flying advertising executive who meets an equally career minded superwoman in Carmen (Carice van Houten) with whom he falls instantly in love with. They soon get married after a whirlwind romance, and life's looking pretty good with their venturing out on their own, and becoming their own boss. Until Carmen gets a lump in her breast that's deemed malignant.

For the first third of the film, told in chapters, it recounts what countless of breast cancer patients had already gone through, and as such turns in to be quite instructive, with a peek into how the Dutch medical system handles the chemotherapy, radiation treatment and the option of amputation. The shock in its discovery, denial, acceptance, and to live life with a condition, is what van Houten, a wonderful actress, aces in her role of Carmen, now a wife and mother to a toddler, trying to live a life of normalcy while battling the dreaded disease. Support comes from her husband in accompanying her to the doctor's, chauffeuring her around and such. But there's a problem that she's well aware of - his infidelity, and in what would be mentioned in fairly crude terms, he's a boob man, and so lies the insecurities and fear of not being a complete woman to prevent her husband from straying.

What she doesn't know is of the extent of his infidelity, which is only privy to Stijn's best friends who cover his tracks for him, and us the audience. Again it makes you wonder what marriage vows are for and if they're worth any weight in gold, and what truly hammers it home is that while one can provide physical support by being around when needed, or even to the point of scooting off whenever opportunity presents itself, what would really matter in any closed one's time of need, is emotional availability. And this is sometihng that can be sensed whether you are conscious of it or otherwise. Sensed by the person suffering, and adding a bit of unnecessary stress and worry. Anyone who had provided care and been a primary care giver before, will know the hardships associated with being there for someone, and sometimes battling the need for a little time off.

Which in Stijn's case, that time off from the wife meant having to go get laid, beginning a more serious affair with painter Roos (Anna Drijver) whom he meets at the club in an annual festival, finally mustering the courage not to accept a friendly smile, but demanding something more. It's easy to condemn Stijn as a character since we can all cast rocks at his adulterous behaviour, but I guess for cinematic reasons Drijver could be here just for eye candy reasons. What I felt was this being a personification of anything that's to distract us from doing what's necessary, since anything out of routine, together with gratification obtained, would surely beat the dreadedness in caring for the sick.

Stricken catches itself and gets its act together for the emotional, final half hour, after plenty of dalliances between the different love affairs, and for Stijn to finally wake up through a round-about fashion. While van Houten may be the bigger name on the marquee thanks to films like Black Book and Valkyrie that were released here, Barry Atsma held his own opposite van Houten, and we feel the pain felt by both characters as they maneuver around the disease which start to wreck havoc in their lives. And this is truly an experience nobody would like to go through, with questions, insecurities and escapism rolled out against a spectrum of emotions accurately captured and portrayed by the actors, with an ending that will surprise, though not uncommon depending on the laws of the land.

Rated R21 here for the countless of nudity scenes from van Houten, Drijver and countless of other faceless females that Stijn can't seem to get enough of, and one bloody harrowing scene where a female clubber dances, strips, and then proceeds to rip her breast off in one sweeping motion. Bound to give anyone some nightmares for its degree of gore.

This is a very beautifull, good acted and realistic movie. Drama and yes, tears will apear too.

This movie is a lot more realistic that most. movies are supposed to entertain maybe, but i like to think that every director also wants to communicate, inspire, tease and challenge. This movie sure challenged me to think about life, about love, about choices. how do we react on challenges? do we run? do we hide? do we pretend or do we face.

In this fantastically acted drama we see the story of two people, maybe a little bit more attractive and successful than average lives, but the rest of the story is so realistic, serious, harsh (no fairy tale) and down to earth that you realize: This is so real that I might face this somewhere in my life, and by realizing that, this movie just added a little bit to my view of life.

That is why this movie is a 10 out of 10. it's not a no brain romcom or action story that you watch for entertainment. It's a piece of art that shows you exactly what love comes down to in the hardest struggles of our lives. Beautiful, impacting, excellent.

In The Netherlands there was quite a buzz around this movie. Unfortunately, this means that it's virtually impossible to see it without any prejudice. For instance, most people know that it's Reinout Oerlemans' first movie as a director, how the story goes and how it ends. I'd rather seen the film not knowing the above.

Having said that, I think it's a pretty good movie. It has a good story behind it, but it translated pretty well to the big screen. What I really like is how Stijn's business-life looks like, how his doubts are portrayed and how the suffering of the characters is brought to life. I do think that the relationship of Stijn and Carmen is portrayed a little bit superficial, focusing primarily on physical attraction and the business connection. The emotional link between the two could have gotten more attention in the first part. But that's the only major point of critique. In the end, it's not about what attracts Stijn and Carmen emotionally, it's how they both deal with Carmen's cancer and the impact it has on their lives. And that part, I feel, is brought to life pretty well in this movie.

Like the book, this movie doesn't allow you to easily identify or sympathise with the main character. You have to admire the book as well as the film for bringing on a main character that you want to kick the sh1t out of every now and again, and still getting the sales that it does.

What the book does, and this carries over nicely to the film, is raise a couple what-if questions that many (read: most of us) would feel uncomfortable to answer. Mainly for that reason, the book got some irate reviews in the Netherlands. Since the movie is fairly true to the book's theme, it is inevitable that the same would happen again.

Barry Atsma does a stellar job in creating a character that most of us would want to kick the crap out for most of the movie. And Carice van Houten is... well, what can I say? If anyone could've done justice to the Carmen character from the book, it's her.

Do see this movie if you're ready to have your prejudices about love (we all have them) challenged. You might end up puzzled, which is a good thing, because it will force you to think.

If rethinking your values is not your Cup Of Tea, then I'd not recommend it.