I Love You Too (2001)

Directed by: Ruud van Hemert | 95 minutes | drama, romance | Actors: Antonie Kamerling, Angela Schijf, Beau van Erven Dorens, Florence Kasumba, Dorothee Capelluto, Anniek Pfeifer

‘I also love you’ fits perfectly into the list of Turkish Fruit spin-offs that have been made in recent decades, such as ‘Sputters’ and ‘Brandende Liefde’. High tempo, lots of polderboy flair (Beau v. ED) and sex without foreplay.

Artists who are enchanted and inspired by women, it is a genre in itself in Dutch film. While love still leads to great deeds with ‘Turkish Delight’, with the followers there are more loose splashes (paint or semen?!). Roland Giphart also has to believe it. Like the work of Jan Wolkers, the story is a seven-course dinner, but it is crammed into a Big Mac box. Antonie Kamerling looks so sad at the beginning of the film, whether he already knows the end of the film. Angela Schijf plays beautifully, but hardly seems to be caught by the camera, as if she is constantly trying to hit the road. We will never know the story behind Reza’s behavior, but we will know how Erik’s friend Fräser (Beau van Erven Dorens) makes French girls moan and how well Erik can rub his holiday girlfriend (Florence Kasumba) with sunscreen.

The shy Erik (or should we say Antonie Kamerling) doesn’t seem to feel very much at home in this story anyway. What am I doing here?, his body language says for an hour and a half, whether it concerns his defloration by the neat Liesbeth (Anniek Pfeifer), the near-rapes of Reza or the advances of his holiday sweetheart. As a result, the romance between Erik and Reza does not come to fruition and the good playing of Angela Schijf and Beau van Erven Dorens (the perfect blaring ball) is also overshadowed. Unfortunate.