Duska (2007)

Directed by: Jos Stelling | 112 minutes | comedy | Actors: Gène Bervoets, Sergei Makovetsky, Sylvia Hoeks

Jos Stelling got the idea for the film based on an experience an Austrian film journalist once had. A colorful figure settled in the life of that journalist, crazy developments followed. That event is further developed after the figure Duska in the film of the same name.

The atmosphere of the film is set right from the start. Duska is born in a rickety bus somewhere in the Ukraine. The first minutes are immediately filled with many subtle little gestures. There is hardly any dialogue, but the visual language speaks for itself like a waterfall of words. After that, the film story jumps forward and back in time a number of times. In this way we gain a surprising insight into who actually is that mysterious Duska who suddenly appears at Bob’s door in Amsterdam. When Bob takes care of him, a sublime story unfolds in which little is spoken. When Duska answers something, it’s more like a parrot repeating a single word that Bob teaches him. That leads to delicious and wonderful jokes. How few words does a good actor need to let the situation speak for itself? This gives the story Mini and Maxi-like features. All those small gestures and sentences that come together wonderfully in a magnificently told visual story with wonderfully amusing developments.

Duska takes care of Bob and is the happy little child for his host. However, Bob soon wants to get rid of him and makes frantic attempts to do so, which in a classically humorous way seem doomed to failure. Naturally, this story has many, almost absurdist, developments. To find out, you really have to go see the movie, you won’t regret it. In the storyline, ingenious use has been made at various times of the demolition of the famous Amsterdam film theater Cinerama.

Both Gène Bervoets as Bob and Sergei Makovetsky as Duska portray magnificent characters. Gène Bervoets interprets his role with verve and plays a fantastic role in a very modest way, with a great sense of the small gesture. Sergei Makovetsky is in no way inferior to him. Almost intuitively, he plays at the level of the famous Russian clown Popov. He needs few words to put down a strong acting performance. Sylvia Hoeks is not indifferent in her role of the young cashier and remains fully intact in the play of these two powerhouses. Director Jos Stelling previously won four Golden Calves. The film has a pleasantly calm and careful camera work in atmospheric warm tones. A magnificent, subdued dark comedy. No frantic hilarious jokes, lots of subtly dosed tongue in cheek humour. Little dialogue, a lot of sublime imagery. Visual jokes require few words. A feast of a movie. Let us surprise you!