Tulipani (2017)

Directed by: Mike van Diem | 90 minutes | comedy, drama | Actors: Gijs Naber, Lidia Vitale, Donatella Finocchiaro, Giorgio Pasotti, Ksenia Solo, Giancarlo Giannini, Anneke Sluiters, Elena Cantarone, Peter Schildelhauer, Totò Onnis, Gianni Pezzolla, Rita Montes

The traditional Dutch farmer Gauke (Gijs Naber) is more than tired of the Dutch cold, precipitation and flooding in ‘Tulipani’. The flood disaster of 1953 is the last straw. Without looking back, the blond giant sets off for sunny Italy by bicycle. The sloping landscape of Puglia, in the Italian heel, will be his new home. Only there he foresees a future for him and his dream wife Ria (Anneke Sluiters). With a renewed zest for life, he sets up an equally traditional Dutch tulip nursery, which must provide him with the fortune to bring Ria over and to embark on a carefree existence together.

Not much has come of that carefree life, as it turns out thirty years later when Anna (Ksenia Solo), who grew up in Montreal, Canada, travels to her Italian native region to scatter the ashes of her recently deceased mother. There she learns more about her past and that of her alleged mother. A history that shows major similarities with that of the mysterious and almost sacredly portrayed Dutch tulip grower who disappeared from the face of the earth thirty years earlier.

What unfolds is an extremely sympathetic, wonderfully portrayed and impeccably acted love fairy tale. However, the narration does not quite come to fruition. As in his previous film, ‘De Surprise’ (2015), Oscar-winning director Mike van Diem does not stick to the conventions associated with the romantic film. That idiosyncrasy is commendable, yet it cannot prevent that ‘Tulipani’ sometimes goes a bit off track in farcical and lack of conviction. The cultural differences between the sober Dutch farmer and the temperamental Italians, for example, are magnified quite theatrically. The first to even mash his spaghetti, as he has always done with his potatoes. The other the always stylishly dressed, tough macho. But at the same time with an endearing ‘mother’ tattoo. The language difference also regularly results in crazy situations. The question arises whether it is not all too much of a good thing.

In addition, the structure of two stories in one is rather cumbersome. Anna’s story, for example, is no more than a coat rack on which the typically Italian exaggerated reconstruction of Gauke’s life is hung. Anna learns a lot about her origins, but it doesn’t seem to impress her at all. Indifference therefore lies in wait for the viewer. Because of the farcical nature and the distance from some characters, scenes in which the drama is central do not come across as such. ‘Tulipani’ therefore remains a sympathetic but also somewhat one-dimensional feel-good film at all times. There had been more residents.