De gelukkige huisvrouw

The Dutch film industry once again shows that it has great potential. This story, based on the novel by Heleen van Rooijen, is a 'typical' dutch movie, meaning that it shows a lot of nakedness very often.

But the storyline is very good, leading you gently into the main character's mind and making you understand how a woman can be driven to hurt her own child. Although Lea commits unforgivable acts in the beginning of the story, you can't help but feeling sorry for her.

The acting, not only by favorite Carice van Houten who once again shows her great talent, but also by her counterpart Waldermar Torenstra, is of very good quality. Carice shows that she hasn't ended up acting with Tom Cruise without merit.

The story is good, twisted and keeps you watching. The acting is good and the overall movie is completely worth your time! I for sure enjoyed watching!!

Lea, played by Carice van Houten, is a stewardess married to Harry (Waldemar Torenstra) who is in the real estate business. Their life seems to be going well, they live in a nice spacious home and they have a happy marriage that they consume regularly (as shown in the first couple of minutes, keeping with the Dutch tradition). Then they decide to have a child and Lea falls into a postpartum depression...

Contrary to what IMDb might say, this is certainly not a comedy. It has some moments which light up the film, but I merely smiled when they were on screen. They were brilliant, yes, but not meant to cause a moment of hysteric laughter, something I associate with the label 'comedy'. I'd much rather label this solely as a drama and romantic film.

Carice van Houten, probably Holland's most popular actress of today (and for good reason), has delivered. She is phenomenal in every scene, whether she has to be happy living her perfect, glossed-over life before the baby, or having a difficult birth, or playing an utterly desperate woman. She's so very believable that you can't help but love her character, even though this is a difficult subject and some of her actions would be incomprehensible otherwise. It's the genius of the scriptwriter and Carice's acting that makes you understand and sympathise.

Waldemar Torentstra does his job very well, and being unfamiliar with his work I am definitely interested in seeing more of him. However, I don't know if the script asked for this but, I'd have loved to have him be a bit more extreme in some scenes. I feel like he's been holding back, and while I'm not sure if he's been asked to do so by the director I think it would have been a good decision to completely let go in some scenes, giving the film that little extra push. Having said that (I don't want to give anything away) maybe this is just a matter of personal preference.

Overall, this film gripped me in a way no other Dutch film has done for me so far. Of all films I've seen in my lifetime, this film definitely holds one of the top spots. I was blown away and would recommend it to anyone, whatever language you may speak, just get a DVD with subtitles.

I can't believe that this is listed as a comedy. If this is what Dutch people find humorous, then I think it's safe to say that they have the worst sense of humour in the entire world. There is absolutely NOTHING funny about this film, even as a dark comedy. Sorry, but I don't think that trying to kill a baby is funny and I have a pretty f*cking twisted sense of humour. Not to mention that the main character of this film is an annoying, racist b*tch and completely unlikeable at that. In fact, all of the characters in this film are equally unlikeable and annoying. I'm not going to tell you not to watch this, but I am going to tell you not to make the mistake that I did and go into this expecting to laugh. You will not laugh. Unless of course, you're Dutch. Then I don't know, maybe you'll laugh.

This is not a bad movie at all but it at the same time is also far from the must see movie that some people make you believe it is. It's definitely not a movie that is without its flaws and its weaker points.

Once you have seen those extreme and traumatizing moments of child birth in this movie, you'll think twice about getting pregnant, as a woman. It's not only psychically hard but also mentally, which causes the main character to see the baby as 'something' that only gave her lots of pain and she just can't bond with him because of this. 'It' becomes even a bigger nuisance to her back home, when it changes her social life and the relationship she has with her husband. It's perhaps a bit of a hard story to believe, that a woman could get suddenly so depressed and also quite insane after giving birth to a child, where it not that you know that this story is actually being based on the true real life experience of the female author of this book, that the movie got based on.

It's also being a well told story, that helps to make the story a believable one but at the same time it's also one that really didn't got me emotionally involved with any of the characters or events happening in this movie. Perhaps this is just the type of movie females will get more involved with and are better able to relate with the characters and their emotions. It's very much a movie that is being told from the female perspective, with obviously a female as the main lead but also with a female director and only female writers involved.

I am still not sure what to think of the overall narrative of the movie. I sort of feel that it gets into its 'action' and to its point too fast, which causes its beginning to feel a bit rushed and in the end to movie is trying to handle and resolve too many issues. I'm sure this is all being handled better in the novel, by Heleen van Royen, that of course has more time to set up its characters and certain situations and reach conclusions much better and more effective, than an 100 minutes movie ever can. This approach causes some of the movie its story elements to just not work out as effective as they potentially could have had.

For instance, in the middle of the movie our main character is forced to go to an insane asylum, to put it boldly, and once she is in there but also after she gets out, all of her relatives and those around her that love her are not really supporting her at all. Instead they are still being very suspicious of her and it actually seems as if she is the only 'normal' person and everyone else is actually being the crazy one. Not sure if this was intentional or not but either way, it doesn't feel very natural. It perhaps even feels a tad bit forced, since it seems to put in to get behind the main character and sympathize for her completely, in the movie its second half and to make us 'forget' all of those horrible and weird things she did in the movie its first half.

But all complaining aside, this was still a movie that got well done and remains a perfectly watchable one, within its genre. It's also a classy made movie, that is a good looking one and actually really had a budget to spend, which is a real positive thing for a Dutch movie.

It's a movie that is relying and building on its actors and their performances. It must had given the movie a real boost that it managed to get Carice van Houten for the lead role, also not in the least because this would be reason for the movie to receive more attention and publicity then an average other Dutch genre movie would get. But of course they must have been also more than pleased to get her simply because she is such a fine actress, who has proved lots of time that she can completely carry a movie on her own. But this can also be a bit of a danger at times, since it can put the other actors of the movie completely in her shadow. But luckily this isn't the case with this movie at all and it has one fine, solid, supporting cast as well and also Waldemar Torenstra in good form as the husband.

A good and totally watchable movie, despite some of my criticism about it.

7/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

For all those people who have read the description of this movie, discard everything you've read. I got the DVD in as a gift from my employer and wasn't too thrilled about it, but still took time to see it. The characters are very likable, at least most of them. Carice van Houten did an excellent performance as 'Lea' the main character. She had a very hard time giving birth, she was exhausted both mentally and physically which lead to a state of depression and somewhat hatred towards her 3 day old son. The story starts out happy and shows the life of a young carefree couple, both with successful careers. This scenario changes quickly after the birth of 'Junior'. A compelling series of events follows, 'Harry' Lea's husband can't trust Lea around her son anymore and consists that she gets treated in a mental institution. Her problems have a deeper background, the hunt for her problems have begun. ~ Overall was it a nice movie to watch, mainly because of the good performances and the urge to find out what causes Lea's problems. Between all the drama, Lea was able to show humor and progression, this element of the movie kept you watching it with content, the 2 hours flew by quicker than i thought. Story: 7/10 Performance: 9/10 Humor: 8.5/10 Technical: 8/10