Feature film
Leedvermaak
Frans Weisz · 1989
Synopsis
In the early seventies, Lea marries Nico, a promising doctor. Her parents, Ada and Simon, survivors of Auschwitz and since then comfortably established, give a big party for her. Among the guests is the woman who hid Lea as a child, and whom the mother envies more than she is grateful to her; the groom's father, for his part, lost his first wife and his eldest son in a camp. Beneath the gaiety, old wounds reopen and no one really manages to celebrate.
Context
Judith Herzberg's play had been premiered in 1982 by the Baal company and had been striking because it gave a voice to the second generation, the children of survivors. Herzberg wrote the adaptation herself; Goert Giltay was behind the camera, Theo Nijland composed the music, and the actors came for the most part from the theatre. The film opens a trilogy that the director continued in 2002 and in 2009, with the same performers.
Who it is for
Ninety-two minutes in Dutch, and almost everything takes place during a wedding. It is worth knowing that nothing is explained of the past, which appears only through what the guests avoid saying.
Prizes and reception
Three Golden Calves in 1989, for direction and both acting prizes; chosen by the Netherlands for the Oscar for best foreign film, without being retained among the nominees.