Frank (2019)

Directed by: Dennis Alink | 81 minutes | documentary | With: Freek de Jonge, Hella de Jonge, André van Duin, Herman Finkers

The line between humor and narcissism is thin, especially with Freek de Jonge. Nothing in the spotlight is in doubt when the camera zooms in on a corpse under a sheet, and that corpse turns out to be Freek. The makers know that, because this is a film about Freek. As always, it’s not about the gun factor for the creatives; whether someone is modest or nice does not matter. Karl Lagerfeld and Lou Reed looked at their audience with disdain and threw pearls to the swine. A film with a bit of a lot of Freek is fine, and certainly no surprise. As a lyricist and disruptive performer, De Jonge is of a high standard. Also typically Dutch: wandering soul in a contented body, eternally complaining about the other. Scrape cheese over the pasta.

In the creative performance, the point is that the form has been perfected: when a performing artist eats from his nose (random example), he does not do it because he is there as a human being, but it has a higher purpose. Otherwise, he must let the loot sit. De Jonge still professes his possessed perfectionism after half a century. This documentary by Dennis Alink (called ‘Freek’) shows this at eye level. Sympathetic interviews with Freek and André van Duin, Freek and Herman Finkers, Freek and Jacques Klöters – albeit sketchy, appropriate cameos by Henry van Loon and René van ‘t Hof, essential conversations with the woman Hella. Freek or the ghost of Freek is everywhere.

You can argue about linking humor and engagement in general, Freek is certainly an appealing example of this marriage of convenience. He is not a crowd pleaser, but goes his own way. Nowhere is the hatred against ground-level negroes as great as in the Netherlands, Freek continues unperturbed. The fate of the creative narcissist. ‘Whatever happens, always keep smiling’, a certain clown declares. Freek is the pedantic opposite of this. A steep pastor, who retains soft sides through his wife. A passionate jerk, who has a hard time dealing with emotions. ‘It’s a lot about you’, says Hella cheerfully after 48 years of Freek. No marriage of convenience, that much is clear.