The Dress

Initially, ?The Dress? falls into the grooves of comedy, but when people start wearing it, it is transformed into a desperate and heartrending quest for whatever is missing in each owner’s life, which is usually love.

How easy is it to structure an entire film around a single object? Can you possibly keep the audience engaged, when the main focus of your story isn’t a person but a piece of fabric? With his third feature, Alex van Warmerdam takes an unusual risk, delivering his most sarcastic and bleakest film to date.

The Dutch enfant terrible discovers his own private McGuffin in a blue dress, the perfect plot device that will allow him to infiltrate different people’s lives as the garment keeps changing hands. From design to production and all the way to the sales counter, the dress becomes the trigger for a series of intertwining stories that are sometimes provocative, sometimes violent, but always hilariously funny.

Initially, “The Dress” falls into the grooves of comedy, but when people start wearing it, it is transformed into a desperate and heartrending quest for whatever is missing in each owner’s life, which is usually love. K.Th.

Εναλλακτικοί τίτλοι / Alternative titles: The Dress / De jurk

Σκηνοθεσία / Director: Alex van Warmerdam

Σενάριο / Screenwriter: Alex van Warmerdam

Φωτογραφία / DoP: Marc Felperlaan

Μουσική / Music: Vincent van Warmerdam

Μοντάζ / Editor: René Wiegmans

Ηθοποιοί / Principal Cast: Henri Garcin, Ariane Schluter, Alex van Warmerdam, Ricky Koole, Rijk de Gooyer, Elisabeth Hoijtink

Ολλανδία / Netherlands
1996
Εγχρωμο / Color
103’
Ολλανδικά / Dutch

* Screens on 24th September and 29th September

Publication date: 2013-09-11 12:30:00

Five sardonic shades of black

Borgman

Without turning his back on the dark, humorous nature of his earlier work, Alex van Warmerdam takes a nosedive into an ocean of dramatic coincidence in a metaphysical thriller inspired by the archetypal battle between Good and Evil.

The Last Days of Emma Blank

Alex van Warmerdam obeys his usual tragicomic urges in an absurdist play staged within the four walls of a dysfunctional family's home.

Waiter

Edgar is furious. The customers at the restaurant where he works treat him like dirt, his unbearable neighbors shatter any semblance of peace and quiet, his wife is bed-ridden and his mistress is way too possessive. Fed up, he knocks on Herman's door, the screenwriter who defines the developments of his everyday life, and asks for some leniency.

Grimm

Drawing inspiration from the Brothers Grimm fairy tale "Brother and Sister" and obviously influenced by spaghetti Westerns and urban legends, Alex van Warmerdam borrows the classic "Once upon a time?" intro to build his own bizarre fairy tale.

Little Tony

In his fourth feature, Alex van Warmerdam adapts his own stage play, delivering a delightful exercise on the saucy details of a love triangle on a farm in the Dutch countryside.