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DE LAATSTE DAGEN VAN EMMA BLANK - THE LAST DAYS OF EMMA BLANK
The Netherlands, Belgium - 2009, 90’, 35 mm, colour - International Premiere
directed by Alex van Warmerdam
screenplay Alex van Warmerdam
cinematography Tom Erisman
editing Job Terburg
music Alex van Warmerdam
sound Coen Gravendaal
art direction Geert Paredis
costumes Patricia Lim
cast
Marlies Heuer (Emma Blank)
Gene Bervoets (Haneveld)
Eva van de Wijdeven (Gonnie)
Alex van Warmerdam (Theo)
Gijs Naber (Meijer)
Marvan Kenzari (Martin)
Annet Malherbe (Bella)
producer Mark van Warmerdam
production
Graniet Film
Archangelkade 15, 1013 BE Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Tel. +31 (0)20 60 60 630 - Fax +31 (0)20 60 60 616
www.granietfilm.nl
co-production
Le Parti Production
10 rue de Fort - 1060 Bruxelles, Belgium
Tel. +32 2 534 6808 - Fax +32 2 534 7818
www.leparti.com
world sales
Fortissimo Films
Van Diemestraat, 100, 1013 CN Amsterdam, Netherlands
Tel. + 31 20 627 3215
www.fortissimo.nl
synopsis
In a large country home, the owner Emma Blank is very ill and is cared for by her household staff: Haneveld the head housekeeper, Bella the cook, Gonnie the maid and Meier the man-servant. Despite her desperate need for loving care, Emma is a steely, avaricious dictator whose demands become ever more absurd, to the extent that her staff is driven to madness. Until the day that they discover that they stand to inherit nothing and they drop off their charade of caring and concern and instead plot their revenge.
Set amidst the verdant countryside and sand dunes of the Netherlands coast, the idyllic landscape is a radical contrast to the dark tale that unfolds within a country house retreat. From the beginning, we know that a woman is dying and an ill-assorted bunch of, supposed, servants (including a man pretending to be a dog) rush about trying to respond and fulfill the increasingly arbitrary and ridiculous requests of the dying woman. Gradually though, we realize that maybe these characters aren’t just servants and their motivation is both familial and mercenary. Based on a play, this has echoes of Ionesco and the Absurdist Theatre with its enigmatic protagonists and their ever more ridiculous actions. Yet, sharply and surely van Warmerdam’s film develops into a blackly comic, smart, nasty neo-noir, as the masks of the characters drop and their real feelings and intentions are shockingly revealed.
Adrian Wootton
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