A Woman Comes to the Doctor (2009)

Directed by: Reinout Oerlemans | 105 minutes | drama, romance | Actors: Barry Atsma, Carice van Houten, Anna Drijver, Pierre Bokma, Jeroen Willems, Sacha Bulthuis, Mark Scholten, Wendell Jaspers

After many directors had declined the honor, TV producer Reinout Oerlemans decided to do it himself: the book adaptation of Kluun’s bestseller ‘Come a Woman to the Doctor’. And it must be strange if his debut does not go straight into the Dutch film history books…

For those few people who don’t know the book: KEVBDD is about Stijn, Carmen and Roos. Stijn (Barry Atsma) and Carmen (Carice van Houten) are married, both have successful businesses and live like God in France. They are young, handsome and have a beautiful daughter, Luna. In short: life smiles at them. Until Carmen is told that she has breast cancer and becomes a regular guest in the hospital for examinations, chemotherapy and radiation. A very different life presents itself. For both…

Stijn is not the most loyal man you can imagine. Even before the cancer, he regularly cheated, but Carmen accepted that as if it were a bad quality of his: “One man picks his nose, the other cheats.” Stijn only loves Carmen and she knows that . However, now that the cancer has entered their world, their relationship is put to the test. Stijn finds it difficult to deal with the situation and regularly flees into the nightlife while Carmen is critically ill in bed. He also meets an old acquaintance, Roos (Anna Drijver), and with her he seems to find the love that Carmen cannot give him at that moment. Meanwhile, however, Carmen needs him more than ever…

Of course, you also encounter the problem of book adaptations in ‘KEVBDD’: how do you cram a complete story into a film of roughly an hour and a half? You can also see that the makers wanted to use as much of the book as possible, judging by the many short scenes at the beginning. Fortunately, this is short-lived and is only an introduction to what is to come. And what’s to come is gripping, compelling and highly emotional. Just like the book actually. So bring the tissues with you!

Carice van Houten plays the part of her life and is undoubtedly heading for another Golden Calf. Barry Atsma is well cast as a fast advertising boy and the girls who play Luna are also moving and provide heartbreaking moments. It’s a pity that Anna Drijver didn’t do more to give Roos more face. You are now wondering who she really is, what she stands for and what emotions she is experiencing through the whole situation. Certain characters that were in the book you will not encounter here at all, but that is not disturbing at all. The makers have chosen well for the essence of the story – love in the time of cancer – and left out unnecessary things. The movie also has a lot less humor than the book.

The images, the music; the whole thing turned out wonderful. Dinand Woesthoff – who himself lost his wife (Guusje Nederhorst) to breast cancer at a young age – makes an extra contribution during the credits with his song “Love over healing”. ‘A Woman Comes to the Doctor’ is a film that hits you hard and makes you realize that many of these practices are bitterly real to many. The question was asked beforehand whether ‘A Woman Comes to the Doctor’ could become the ‘Turkish Fruit’ (1973) of our time. The answer is a resounding ‘yes’. Reinout can safely remain in his director’s chair. An absolute must see!