Title: Mijn bijzonder rare week met Tess | My Extraordinary Summer with Tess | Meine wunderbar seltsame Woche mit Tess
About the movie:
Sam (Sonny van Utteren) and his family go on a summer holiday in the Netherlands by the sea. He is currently in a self-digged sand hole and thinks about what it would be like if his parents or even his older brother would suddenly die in front of him and he also plans to start a lonely training. Shortly afterwards his brother falls into Sam’s dug sand hole while playing football together and breaks his knee. Without further ado, the father takes both boys into the car and visits a small doctor’s office in the village. Sam is blaming himself, and this is literally written all over his face. When he then discovers a poster in the practice while waiting together, where it is all about dying again, he hangs around with his father. But the conversation ends relatively quickly with the clear words that Sam should best stretch his legs outside. While his brother is being treated, Sam meets the girl Tess (Josephine Arendsen), who turns out to be a little whirlwind. Without further ado she persuaded Sam to practice a salsa dance, which she can’t practice alone. While the two rehearse the whole thing on a YouTube video, Sam’s father appears, watching the “spectacle” with his son for a short moment. When his father asks him to leave, because they have to go to a hospital, but Sam wants to stay with Tess. Together with her they manage to convince the father to stay. Since Tess still has to buy flowers, the two of them wander through the streets, until Tess’s mobile phone suddenly rings. During the conversation Tess gets pretty serious and when she hangs up, she turns around and almost runs away from Sam without a word, but he doesn’t let up and follows her home. Sam can persuade Tess to accompany her on her way, no matter what. Together they go by bicycle to a remote house.
It is a small holiday home and in a hurry she instructs Sam what he has to do there, because she expects holiday guests who arrive there any moment. At the last minute they are ready to receive a couple from Germany. The couple is happy because they have won the holiday in this apartment and Tess tries to read a short, handwritten welcome speech and she reports about a small program for the next days. When it comes to saying goodbye, however, Tess behaves extremely strangely towards the man, doesn’t even want to shake hands with him when he reaches out to her. Wordless and with her head bowed, she turns away from him and flees with Sam. When Sam tries to find out why Tess has just behaved so strangely, she becomes even more insecure and drops Sam off on the secluded sand road without further ado. Of course Sam hopes that Tess will come back and maybe apologizes to him, too, but she doesn’t show up anymore. After this very strange encounter he meets Tess again and again in the following days and bit by bit he learns more about her and her secret.
Conclusion:
Family films from the Netherlands are always a pleasure for one’s own film soul. They always manage to deal with very special themes in a very calm way, without exaggerating the drama. Topics like first love, thoughts of death or parental care are treated with great sensitivity. The fact that the whole thing can also be packed with a lot of wordplay is really a grandiose achievement. A really casual and relaxed film with a nice tension curve and surprises. Very recommendable.
Actors:
Sonny van Utteren (Sam)
Josephine Arendsen (Tess)
Julian Ras (Jorre)
Tjebbo Gerritsma (Gijs)
Suzan Boogaerdt (Mara)
John Kienast (Hugo)
Terence Schreurs (Elise)
Jennifer Hoffman (Ida)
Hans Dagelet (Hille)
Guido Pollemans (Sil)
Director:
Steven Wouterlood
Information about the film incl. short film excerpt and seasons:
https://www.berlinale.de/en/programm/berlinale_program/datasheet.html?film_id=201911930
Trailer with english subtitles:
Pictures from the Q&A at the Zoo Palast:
