The Waiting Room-The Waiting Room (1995)

Directed by: Jos Stelling | 29 minutes | erotica, short film | Actors: Gene Bervoets, Annet Malherbe, Bianca Koedam

In ‘The Waiting Room’, the Dutch director Jos Stelling shows that he has a great talent. Both the script and direction are phenomenal. ‘The Waiting Room’ is the first of a trilogy of erotic short films, with the similarity that there are no dialogues, the lead role is played by Gene Bervoets and the power of suggestion is used optimally.

A woman (Annet Malherbe) is stressed on a platform of a Dutch station. The first cup of coffee came out flawlessly from the machine, the second cup of consolation failed because there was no cup. The woman walks around agitated with that one cup, looking for someone who can change her tenner. In the next scene we see a waiting room at the same station. A man (Gene Bervoets) in his forties is waiting. He passes the time observing people, but not in a neat way, as most other people would if they had nothing better to do than ‘people watch’. The man looks unabashedly at female waiting, practically undressing them with his eyes. The provocative looks he throws at the women, sometimes girls, are of course not always received with the same enthusiasm. For example, there is the girl who falls down dejectedly after an argument with her boyfriend, who at first interprets Bervoets’ look as compassionate, but soon finds out that he has completely different intentions.

Bervoets acts superbly. Armed with only his facial expressions and body language, he manages to portray a convincing character, who at first arouses revulsion because of the shameless sexual innuendo he makes to completely stranger women. But the extras in the waiting room also act very naturally and give a great added value to the film. Then the blond woman (Bianca Koedam) walks into the waiting room. In contrast to the other women, she seems to like Bervoet’s cheeky looks. There follows a game of seduction and erotic thoughts in which the blond woman has the power. Despite the fact that he started the game with his dishonorable looks, he has less guts than you might think. The ending of the film is very original and with a high ‘didn’t see it coming’ quality. Absolute class of the cast and crew of this short film, especially Gene Bervoets and Jos Stelling.