The Little Blonde Death (1993)

Directed by: Jean van de Velde | 90 minutes | drama | Actors: Antonie Kamerling, Olivier Tuinier, Loes Wouterson, Cees Linnebank, Ellen ten Damme, Liz Snoyink, Yoran Hensel, Reinout Bussemaker

‘The little blond death’ is in everything a film of its time, namely the early 90s, in which it was still terribly shocking, but above all tough to shout words like “fuck” and “bitch”. Of course the good sex scene is also present and there is plenty of smoking and Antonie Kamerling sublimely plays the clumsy ‘artist’ who thinks he can afford to throw his own emotions in everyone’s face. But the story is real. It shows in a very real way how people are in relationships and especially how divorced parents treat their child(ren). The feelings of guilt and powerlessness and the dragging with Micky from one to the other, with both always trying to be the best parent. As a result, Valentijn changes from one day to the next from a sniffing, fucking, inconsiderate poet into an involved father.

Important for Valentijn is also his own father, who performed a heroic deed in the Second World War, but received a considerable blow from that same war. His father’s madness lies like a heavy blanket over Valentine’s childhood. A fact that comes directly from the life of Boudewijn Büch himself, who wrote the book ‘The little blond death’, on which this film is based. The whole film is actually a slightly modified, fragmentary glimpse into Boudewijn’s (Valentine’s) life. That certainly makes the story interesting, but at the same time it also keeps the film on the plain, because only Valentijn and Micky really come into their own. The other players are very much on the sidelines. Partly due to the many jumps in time in ‘De kleine blond dood’, you as a viewer remain mainly a spectator of the events without everything gripping you terribly. The pace of the story, on the other hand, keeps the film captivating. And above all, in this film you can once again immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the 80s/90s.