Happy Ending (2009)

Directed by: Frans Weisz | 90 minutes | drama | Actors: Pierre Bokma, Jasper Gottlieb, Rijk de Gooyer, Gaite Jansen, Kitty Courbois, Edwin de Vries, Aida Mussach, Carolien Spoor, Annet Nieuwenhuyzen, Sigrid Koetse, Geza Weisz, Turan Furat, Myranda Jongeling, Sophie van Winden, Peter Oosthoek, Catherine ten Bruggencate, Hugo Haenen, Nicole Moerland, Laura de Boer, Chava Voor in ‘t Holt, Ingeborg Loedeman, Jip Loots, Marjon Brandsma, Elke Leenhouwers, Charlie Dagelet, Frauke Leenhouwers

Frans Weisz is an old acquaintance in the Dutch film and television world. He made quite a few films, most of them adaptations of Dutch literature, as was customary in the past. He worked with the greatest Dutch actors and actresses from more than half a century of Dutch film and stage and not only did the traditional work, he also joined the wave of novelty in 1982, by working together with Shireen Strooker and the innovative Werktheater. to make the very funny film ‘A Sweet Summer Evening’. Several of Weisz’s films have been awarded prizes, especially in the Netherlands, but also abroad, including Cannes. ‘Happy End’ is unfortunately not the sequel to one of the above-mentioned films, but rather a tail of the kind of films and the kind of working method that we in the Netherlands are really no longer waiting for.

Is Weisz too old then? Or at least too old-fashioned? Was it too much to ask of a seventy-one-year-old man to make another smooth, fresh film? Or was it perhaps the dusty subject? Because yes, a Jewish family that is still burdened by the consequences of the Second World War is not exactly a cool starting point. Or was it over-enthusiastic producers who saw it all before themselves: we build on the first two stories, hire our famous screenwriter Judith Herzberg again, we hiply call it ‘the third part of the trilogy’ (after parts 1: ‘Leedvermaak’ from 1989 and 2: ‘Qui Vive’ from 2001), we already have the actors from the previous parts of the ‘trilogy’ and what else? Oh yes, the music: first Theo Nijland and then let’s do it again by Fons Merkies, wow. Well, the names are good you would say, but wasn’t it a famous football coach who once said: “the best players together don’t make a winning team”? He’s absolutely right.

Pierre Bokma is and remains a hero. He is an actor who also survives without a direction or a brilliant script, but he is one of the few. Catherine ten Bruggencate is still doing well and Peter Oosthoek also gets away with his role, as does Rijk de Gooyer, who in his small role can keep his mouth shut for the entire film! Furthermore, there are actually no actors who really convince in this film. Nothing they do or say really works, which is due to the editing, for example, which comes across as old-fashioned, too many close-ups, too little variation. But it’s mostly because of the weird things they have to say and it’s because of the either poorly developed or ill-prepared characters that they put in themselves and that the director didn’t point out to them.

And then we haven’t even mentioned the messy story, which requires too much explaining. That grandpa, Simon, is the linchpin of the story. With him everything comes together, with him people open their hearts and his will to live is the power of the story. That is a strong fact. But then so many characters are brought in, all of whom are briefly discussed with their own things, obscure, chaotic, actually superficial and sometimes simply too far fetched. Like that running gag of the son of the house, who wants to kiss girls for 20 seconds without breathing, because he heard that in the gas chambers of the Nazis this was the length of the gas showers. What the…?

Anyway, soon as a viewer you don’t feel like making the effort to follow all this. This is the kind of stories and the kind of movies that we in the Netherlands just seemed to get away with. Of course you are happy when as a young actor you are offered a role in a film and then also get to play with such famous people. Yet those (not convincing themselves) newcomers will have scratched their heads when they see the end result. The film they signed for has in all respects become one of a generation whose thinking and working method are ready for a happy ending.