Single 39 (2019)

Directed by: Frank Krom | 90 minutes | romance, drama | Actors: Lies Visschedijk, Waldemar Torenstra, Eva van de Wijdeven, Loes Haverkort, Steyn de Leeuwe, Fabrice Deville, Gerard Cox

No film genre is as predictable as the romantic comedy. Almost all of them follow the same path: a woman between 25 and 45 with a not too complicated profession has bad luck in love. Then a man crosses her path whom she does not immediately see as a potential partner, but whom everyone sees at a glance that he would be a perfect match for her. After some bumps in the road, towards the end of the film the lead actress finally discovers how nice that one man really is, after which we can close with an intense kiss, knowing that the perfect couple will be together for a very long and very happy time. life. End. Because of the predictability and the happy ending – because romantic comedies naturally end well nine times out of ten – these kinds of films easily look away. No wonder one after the other romkom finds its way to the cinemas. And that applies not least to the romantic comedies of Dutch origin, which easily win the Golden Film designation.

The newest shoot on the tree is called ‘Singel 39′ (2019), the feature film debut by director Frank Krom (known from TV series such as ‘t Schaep met de five pooten’ and ‘Soof: a new beginning’). Eddy Terstal’s screenplay, based on a story by Marnie Blok, dares to deviate somewhat from the well-trodden paths of the genre, but in the end it remains fairly well within the lines. Monique (Lies Visschedijk) has done well. She has a good, responsible job as a heart surgeon, lives in a nice house on the Singel and regularly gets her sexual appetite because her Canadian lover – also a successful doctor who works in Brussels – stays for a few nights once a month. But when Max (Waldemar Torenstra) moves in next door, she starts to look at her life in a different light. Yes, she finds him attractive, but he quickly reveals that he likes men and she seems to be able to accept that easily. Max desperately wants a child and before Mo is well aware that she can and wants to help him with that, he has found a beautiful woman (Loes Haverkort) via a matchmaking website for co-parents. And then Mo suddenly becomes jealous…!

It is refreshing that ‘Singel 39’ takes a slightly different path than the average romkom, but the choices are a lot less daring than the makers would have us believe. Admittedly, the male protagonist is homosexual and the film dares to take positions with regard to the right to self-determination and modern family composition. But Max falls very neatly within all frameworks (he is even a football fan) and his sexuality does not really go beyond a little flirting with an ambulance brother and a waiter played by Douwe Bob. Even with the choice of Mo’s father (Gerard Cox) not to be resuscitated, more could have been done.

Instead, ‘Singel 39’ remains above all very well-behaved and safe, with a successful joke here and there, some all-too-prominent advertising from an airline (which made a free trip to Morocco possible for the protagonists) and above all charming and sympathetic actors. Because although both don’t do much differently than they normally do, Visschedijk and Torenstra undoubtedly form the beating heart of the film and they have a pleasant and credible chemistry between them. It is also thanks to them that we largely go along with this feel-good film about the modern family.