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Een Vrouw als Eva
A Woman Like Eve
Netherlands 1979
produced by Matthijs van Heijningen for Sigma Film Productions
directed by Nouchka van Brakel
starring Monique van de Ven, Maria Schneider, Marijke Merckens, Peter Faber, Renée Soutendijk, Anna Knaup, Mike Bendig, Truus Dekker, Helen van Meurs, Ben Hulsman, Karin Meerman, Theo de Groot, Trudy de Jong, Marjon Brandsma, Elsje Scherjon, Ineke de Graaf, Herman Doeleman, Harrie van Cranenburgh, Hans van Veghel, Anna van Beers, Rik van Hulst
idea by Carel Donck, screenplay by Judith Herzberg, Nouchka van Brakel, music by Laurens van Rooyen
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
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Eve (Monique van de Ven) is pretty much the model housewife and
mother - until she has a nervous breakdown, not so much because of the
strain of her housework but the utter monotony. Ad (Peter Faber), her
husband, is quick to see she needs a break from him and their children
Britta (Anna Knaup) and Sander (Mike Bendig), and sends her on a trip to
France with her best friend Sonja (Marijke Merckens). On the trip, she
meets young Liliane (Maria Schneider), who invites her to her hippie
commune for a party, and Liliane is somewhat drawn to the commune's
lifestyle, but more so to openly gay Liliane. So back at home, Eve tries
to implement some principles that she's learned in the commune, like
communal cooking for the whole apartment building to give all housewives
more time for themselves, but only with limited success, and especially Ad
doesn't like the change in his daily routine. Eve also does her best to
meet Liliane everytime she comes into town, and the too become closer and
closer friends and finally lovers. Ad has a meltdown when he finds out,
after which Eve takes a powder and lives with Liliane at the commune for a
few months. She only notices how this affected her children when she
returns, however she ultimately moves out of her and Ad's apartment for
good, moves to a houseboat with Liliane - who by now splits her time
between living here and at the commune - and gets temporary custody of the
children even. But Ad isn't one to easily give up on the children, not
just out of fatherly love, much less because he thinks Eve's a bad mother,
but because his ex-wife living with a woman insults his patriarchal pride
... A film that's very much a product of its time as society
has fortunately evolved a lot when it gets to same-sex partnerships in the
last 40+ years, A Woman Like Eve is nevertheless a brilliant time
capsule and must have been a very ambitious, even controversial film when
made. But what makes the film work is less ambition and controversy, but
that it does have lots of heart, and that it doesn't let its message
destroy its story, that's not simply one-sided but has its moments of
ambiguity - up to the very ending really -, and it's directed in a laid
back, subtle way to let the story flow, while the performances are all
natural enough to keep things grounded to make things work on more than a
mere message-level and make it relatable, and thus enjoyable, even today.
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review © by Mike Haberfelner
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Robots and rats,
demons and potholes, cuddly toys and shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill Your Bones to is all of that.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to -
a collection of short stories and mini-plays ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle,
all thought up by the twisted mind of screenwriter and film reviewer Michael Haberfelner.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to
the new anthology by Michael Haberfelner
Out now from Amazon!!! |
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