Bon Voyage (2011) - DaaVeeDee

Bon Voyage (2011) (DVD) (*)

$29.99

Screened, competed or awarded at:
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
Dutch ( Dolby Surround )
English ( Subtitles )

Product Origin/Format:
Netherlands ( PAL/Region 2 )

Running Time:
83 min

Aspect Ratio:
Anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1)

Special Features:
Anamorphic Widescreen
Interactive Menu
Scene Access

Movie filmed in 2011 and produced in:
Netherlands ( France, Benelux )

Directed By:
Margien Rogaar

Written By:
Margien Rogaar
Tijs van Marle

Actors:
Hans Croiset ..... Bob
Anneke Blok ..... Tine
Reinout Bussemaker ..... Fred
Mirre Balke ..... Anouk
Casper van Rijnberk ..... Jochem
Scyler Eijgermans ..... Jasmijn
Frank Lammers ..... Tom
Lotje van Lunteren ..... Eva
Tom van Kessel ..... Rogier
Daan Leusink ..... Guido
Yeshela Crommelin ..... Rik
Rixt Bilker ..... Lea
Benja Bruijning ..... Giel
Abel Nienhuis ..... Harold
Carola Arons ..... Moeder Guido

Synopsis:

The unsinkable Dutch Verbeek clan prepares for a family holiday to France for that anticipated escape from the ordinary. But their 'bon voyage' is abruptly sidetracked by news that Grandpa Bob is gravely ill, leading to an altogether different, more subdued journey from which an unexpectedly rich story emerges. As the family settles into a staycation, sullen teenager Anouk refuses to let the change of plans sidetrack her stealth mission to lose her virginity; son Jochem quickly learns about the tenuous ties of friendship; and the youngest, Jasmijn, soberly accepts what everyone else fears the most, boldly traversing with Grandpa Bob the delicate line between life and death with frankness, heart and a surprising amount of humor. Margien Rogaar's understated style is an invitation to settle in with the Verbeek family, in this heartfelt film about coming of age, mortality and the ties that bind.

Director Margien Rogaar's group portrait of a middle-class family in transition is disarmingly gentle: the turbulence lies beneath the surface, as it does in most families. The Verbeeks are driving off for a three-week summer vacation in France when a phone call comes: Bob (Hans Croiset), the family patriarch, is gravely ill. So his son-in-law, Fred (Reinout Bussemaker), turns the car around and returns to the Verbeek's pleasant home in a Dutch suburb. This is bad news for Anouk Verbeek (Mirre Balke), a typically restless teenager who'd hoped to lose her virginity in France. But it pleases preteen Jochem (Casper Van Rijnberk), who can now spend more time with his best friend, Guido, at their secret tree house; for curious little Jasmijn (Scyler Eijgermans), it's an opportunity to put a barrage of innocent questions to her beloved grandfather about life, death, and afterlife. The children's distraught mother, Tine (Anneke Blok), must hold everything together even as family frictions mount.

Director Rogaar and scenarist Tijs Van Marle quietly explore the pains of growing up, summing up, and moving on. Anouk experiments with sex (the wrong boy, it turns out) at a teen dance party. Jochem is crushed when his good pal forsakes him for another kid. Old Bob, leaning on his cane, must find a way to accept his own mortality, and perhaps, immortality. When he takes little Jasmijn with him to a funeral chapel to make arrangements, the proprietor gets suitably flustered; we behold a lovely interplay between the generations.

This product was added to our catalog on Friday 27 April, 2012.