Phileine zegt sorry

At most times books and movies have very different styles and completely different constructed stories. Some of the book stories and styles simply don't translate well to the big screen. The book "Phileine zegt sorry" written by Ronald Giphart is one of those books that doesn't translate well to the big screen. As a movie "Phileine zegt sorry" leaves a pointless impression. It's one of those movies which makes you wonder after you have seen it; Why did I even watched this in the first place?

It's pretty obvious throughout the entire movie that it's one based on a novel. It features some typical book elements that I'm sure work well in the book but feel completely pointless in the movie. It also has some characters walking around in the movie that feel absolutely pointless and serve no purpose at all. On top of that it's incredibly irritating that most of the New York characters are played by Dutch actors, almost as if there weren't any available actors in New York. their American-Dutch accents are notable and at points even irritating.

The two main actors Kim van Kooten and Michiel Huisman are really great but van Kooten couldn't prevent me from being irritated by her character Phileine at times. Her character is over-the-top and really pushes it at times. I would had dumped her almost immediately! but again, this is not van Kooten's fault, she plays her character with lots of profession and passion., simply blame the story.

Appereantly this was supposed to be a comedy but there are no real laughs here. Also as a drama it isn't serious enough. I think this is the main reason why this movie leaves an overall pointless impression. The movie is just mostly about Phileine talking rudely about mainly sex and acting like an uncontrollable young hormone filled-woman.

The movie however deserves credit for how it looks. The cinematography by Bart Pot is most excellent, especially for the scene's in New York, where this movie is set for about two-third of the entire movie. The editing by Peter Alderliesten keeps the pace high. Robert Jan Westdijk isn't an horrible director he has just been given horrible material to work with.

I can't think of any reason why someone should ever watch this movie.

4/10

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Sex sells. That is something Dutch author Ronald Giphart is very well aware of. This was evident in the first filmed novel by the author: 'Ik Ook Van Jou' but even more in 'Phileine Zegt Sorry' (Phileine Says Sorry).

The original novel is hilarious, quick, witty, from a female perspective, but written by a heterosexual male author. The novel is full of quick one-liners and so is this move ('I believe in sex at first sight' and 'We don't care you have a low self-esteem, just don't bother us with it').

The thing is a quite weak story as 'Phileine' demands a quick witty approach, which Robert-Jan Westdijk (the director) seems to be perfectly able at. He seems to have understood what the story is all about: Phileine, a super-bitch, follows her boyfriend Max to New York, where she finds out about the rather exclusive approach he's giving to Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet'.

Although the movie is quick it has quite some flaws. Westdijk doesn't take enough time to finish off some crucial scenes. The final scene has been handled off quite fast and almost messy and the movie really lacks emotion at times. Westdijk doesn't seem to wanna fall in the pit called 'false sentiment' but in stead of carefully avoiding it he doesn't seem to use any of it in 'Phileine'. To be perfectly honest one wouldn't care less whether or not Phileine regains the love of Max or how she handles it. She's a bitch, so she'll survive and go on with her live.

Kim van Kooten however is perfectly cast and throws in the one-liners one at a time from scratch. Michiel Huisman may be nice to look at (all pumped up) but is rather disappointing as the flat character of Max. This is also due to his rather poor acting qualities. Roeland Fernhout's part as the androgynous Jules is unforgettable and could have used deserved more screen time.

The novel already makes use of too many character with their individual story-lines that push away the main story-line: the one between Phileine and Max, but in the movie this gets annoying at points.

Fortunately Westdijk's quick approach makes up for a lot but not for everything. 'Sometimes the movie is just better than the movie', says author Giphart in a cameo (please no more cameos in any of his movies!). I am afraid I have to disagree with him. But then again: is the movie ever better than the novel?

Still 'Phileine Zegt Sorry' speeds up hope for the Dutch movie industry (especially now that governmental finance has been abolished) and especially for Dutch rom-coms.

I have not read the novel but I liked this picture because of the many quick mood changes.

There are so many emotions that change quickly all the time. One time the characters in the picture are serious and then one minute later everyone is laughing. And the next minute Philene and Max have some sort of serious conversation. You maintain watching this picture because all emotions occur so fast after one another.

What I also liked in this picture was the age of the characters. It looks like they are in their mid-twenties or something. I can imagine that the same story could apply to teenagers but also to people above 60.

That's my opinion. Nice movie!

Too little depth, too bad. Following the book by Ronald Giphart word for word, this movie doesn't have much to say. It doesn't fascinate the viewer, it's just another love story that has been tried to make interesting by making the main character talk into the camera in the middle of some scenes. Makes you remember Saved by the bell and Ally McBeal. The Lead-role is played by Kim van Kooten, and if you like brunettes you'll probably like her. Good for you because the sex-scenes could make up for lack of story / plot-line. She ends up saying she's sorry for all the things she's done, big deal. This scene (which should be the climax of the movie) doesn't seem to express it's importance to the viewer. An average movie that has some humorous scenes in it and Kim van Kooten is a very attractive woman ;)

Well, I have to admit that I (like most of the people from Holland) think most of the Dutch movies are plain bad. Seriously. Most of the time, I even got a good reason for that because most Dutch movies are bad. But it wouldn't be fair if I'd call this movie bad.

Phileine zegt sorry is a very good movie to Dutch standards. OK, Ronald Giphart is definitely not the most literal Dutch writer and he really overuses sex in his books, but isn't that typical for Dutch writers? In fact, aren't Dutch movies known for that too? Turkish Delight is a good Dutch movie, yet has a lot of sex in it. Oh well, I think I should tell you what makes me like this movie, not what makes it less bad.

I think Kim van Kooten is great as Phileine. OK, she might overdo the bitchiness sometimes, but most of the time the girl's just good. She has a good timing for one-liners and even though even I (as a 16 year old... No, we're not brainless) think Ronald Giphart overuses cursing in his books, Kim van Kooten makes Phileine enjoyable to look at and listen to.

I really like the movie's soundtrack, as, throughout the movie, it just seems to fit in the place where it is.

I like a lot of the scenes in the movie, as I think there's enough emotion in it to make it an enjoyable movie. Yes, call me crazy, but I thought the end-scene was very emotional. This might be because I'm still young and I have no life-experience whatsoever, or something, but just because I'm a teenager doesn't mean I'm emotionless.

But there are some bad points in the movie too. For example, the dutch actors that pretend to be American. Bad English or American accents in a movie really irritate me, and because a lot of Dutch people don't have a perfect English accent I don't think they should be portrayed as English or American. I found this especially annoying in Kenan Raven's case. But then again, I think Kenan Raven is annoying to begin with. His face looks completely emotionless to me.

I thought some scenes in the movie were pointless. For example, you had Gulpje and the guy from the restaurant. The whole restaurant scene was rather pointless, just like a few other scenes.

But I liked most of the movie. I don't think everyone will like it as it's dutch and therefore a bit sexistic, but I do recommend it to people my age.

7/10.