Retrospect (2018)

Directed by: Esther Rots | 101 minutes | drama | Actors: Circé Lethem, Martijn van der Veen, Lien Wildemeersch, Felice de Bruijn, Frederique de Bruijn, Tibbe Kerste, Chloé Braat, Nova Hessing, Teun Luijkx, Lottie Hellingman, Cripta Scheepers, Rian Gerritsen, Matteo van der Grijn, Francois Beukelaers, Merijn de Jong, Willemijn Zevenhuijzen, Rob Kuiper, Mandela Wee Wee, Poal Cairo, Matthijs Ten Kate, Pauline Greidanus, Jamie Grant, Gegam Soghomonyan, Arnaud Bronsart, Nora Tsibidas

In the fragmentary ‘Retrospekt’ we follow Mette, a mother of two children. She is happily married to Simon. Mette works in a ‘stay away from my body’ where she supports women who are confronted with domestic violence. Here she meets Miller, a young woman who is abused and threatened by her husband Frank. When Simon is on a trip and Miller’s situation threatens to spiral out of control, Mette decides to take care of her. She decides to take Miller in for a while, not knowing what dramatic consequences this will have.

‘Retrospekt’ is a non-linear film consisting of flashbacks and flashforwards. You soon find out that Mette survived a traumatic car accident. We see her in a rehabilitation center where she has to learn to walk and talk again. In addition to the physical challenges, we also follow her in a quest to put all the puzzle pieces together and find out what actually happened. The whole movie consists of different memories that make you feel like you are seeing everything from Mette’s eyes. This even makes you doubt whether everything you see is completely correct, or just a distorted memory.

‘Retrospekt’ is very exciting at times and you want to know how the fork is in the stem. Yet there are also indefinable scenes with questionable dialogues, which confuse you as a viewer. That also makes it double, because on the one hand this is tiring, but it also contributes to the feeling of seeing everything from Mette. For her, those memories will be similarly confusing. When you realize this at some point, you can embrace it and maybe look at the movie differently.

The soundtrack of ‘Retrospekt’ is one that has probably been the subject of many discussions. It consists largely of a kind of operetta, sung by a man and a woman. As intense and heavy as some scenes are, the lyrics from the music you hear are so light and humorous. The soundtrack is overpowering and forces you to listen to the lyrics, making it difficult to pay as much attention to the image. Then what you hear and what you see collide so much that you need some time to process it. However, the movie continues.

In that respect, director Esther Rots is taking a risk with her entire sound design, where she will both gain and lose viewers. The rest of the soundtrack, which often consists of a rhythmic percussion, does not always seem to reconcile with what we see on the screen. Sometimes the ominous sound is amplifying, such as in a scene where Mette stands in a crowd and clearly feels threatened by a man who comes just a little too close to her. At other times, however, the sound is distracting and what is happening on the screen is already exciting enough. One thing is for sure, when it comes to sound, Rots is completely committed to this stylistic choice.

‘Retrospekt’ is a complicated film, in which the easy way is generally not chosen. That is why the end comes somewhat like a bolt from the blue. You are put to work throughout the film and then the end is just thrown into your lap. The climax, namely the accident, seems much less important than the quest for it. Still, Rots shows that she has cinematographic talent and she manages to paint an interesting picture of a woman who has to deal with a very traumatic event.