Dora van der Groen Movies
Frank Van Passel's adaptation of William Elsschot's novella Villa des Roses stars Julie Delpy. Delpy is a French maid who works at a home for the poor and unfortunate. She becomes pregnant, and is forced to risk a dangerous abortion. The director employed digital effects to help create the elaborate visual design of the film. Villa des Roses was screened at the Hollywood Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julie Delpy, Shaun Dingwall, (more)
An elderly woman who can't take care of herself becomes the center of a family squabble in this moving drama. Pauline (Dora van der Groen) is a severely retarded woman who, at the age of 66, cannot read, speak in complete sentences, or even tie her own shoes. Despite her handicap, Pauline is happy, and can run simple errands; she lives with her older sister Martha (Julienne De Bruyn), but Pauline has always been especially fond of one of her other siblings, Paulette (Ann Petersen), and Pauline would gladly spend the day puttering around Paulette's sewing supplies store if Martha didn't stop her. When Martha dies, Paulette and another sibling, Cecile (Rosemarie Bergmans), discover Martha's will stipulates that if one of the surviving sisters will take in Pauline and care for her, her money will be evenly divided three ways between Pauline, Paulette, and Cecile -- but if she's given to others or placed in a home, the entire inheritance will go to Pauline. Paulette reluctantly agrees to take in her sister, but her compassion soon proves to be in short supply as she begins hatching a plan to close down her shop and move away, leaving Pauline behind. Pauline et Paulette was the first feature film from director Lieven Debrauwer. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dora van der Groen, Ann Petersen, (more)
- 1999
A young woman finally decides she's had enough of people taking advantage of her and does something about it in the violent Belgian drama S.. S. (Natali Broods) is the product of a blighted childhood -- her father was a murderer who often molested her, while her mother was a prostitute who wasn't around much. Grown to adulthood, S. is a confused and angry bisexual who one day discovers her boyfriend cheating on her -- so she kills him. S. is later spurned by another one of her lovers (this one female), and soon she has gone on a crime spree, shooting people who in her mind symbolize her problems, including the manager of a sleazy peep show and a priest with physical designs on her. S. features music by the Belgian rock band dEUS; it was shown as part of the 1999 San Francisco Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Natali Broods, Kristine van Pellicom, (more)
- 1999
Based on a notorious real-life Belgian scandal involving corruption at the highest levels of industry and government, this film concerns fictional muckraking journalist Johannes van Buren (Herbert Flack), who is kidnapped by Billy (Peter van den Begin), the son of one of the accused. Billy interrogates the reporter about his ethics and his own deep dark personal secrets. Director Willem Wallyn had more that a passing interest in the so-called Augusta-Dassault imbroglio; his father was centrally involved in the affair. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Van Den Begin, Herbert Flack, (more)
A strong-willed Dutch woman recalls her life in this uplifting picture that won the 1996 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Antonia (Willeke van Ammelrooy) is an elderly woman who wakes up one morning and realizes that this is the last day of her life. She begins to tell her story in flashback, beginning with her arrival home to the family farm after World War II with her daughter, Danielle (Els Dottermans). For the next fifty years, a variety of colorful characters come and go on the farm. Danielle becomes a painter, and decides she wants a child but no husband, so Antonia arranges the proper donation. Danielle giving birth to Therese (Veerle van Overloop), who laters has her own child, Sarah (Thyrza Ravesteijn), also without virtue of a husband. Antonia and her descendants come to symbolize the freedom of independent females, with little need for men in their lives. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Willeke van Ammelrooy, Jan Decleir, (more)
- 1992
In this relentlessly grim autobiographical drama, the director's brother suffers a painful and gruesome death as a result of an accident incurred while performing in a gorilla suit at a carnival after someone threw a lighted match at him. The director's father then dies a long, painful and lingering death from cancer, at which point his mother goes to live in housing for the elderly. When she gets sick, she can't find a doctor with the decency to make her final days acceptable to her, so the filmmaker wryly speaks of her (in her lingering condition) as "less dead than the others." ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dora van der Groen, Senne Rouffaer, (more)
- 1989
From the book by Yvonne Keuls, this Dutch teen drama looks at life in teen rehabilitation center and refuge. Some of the kids have been raped, others are runaways, some are thieves. They all have problems, and all are problems for the system, and for the dedicated staff who try to help them. The only teens who are not welcome at the center are junkies and the insane, who have other refuges. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jasperina de Jong, Dora van der Groen, (more)
- 1988
Andre Delvaux directed this stylish, yet ultimately empty adaptation of a historical novel by Marguerite Yourcenar. Gian Maria Volonte leads the cast as Zenon, a Belgian doctor and alchemist in the 1500s. Zenon travels across Europe for many years hiding from the Inquisition, which eventually catches up with him when he returns to his native Brugge in disguise. The narrative is bolstered by some fine acting by Volonte and a notable supporting cast including Sami Frey, Marie-Christine Barrault, Marie-France Pisier, and Anna Karina, as well as excellent cinematography by Charlie Van Damme and Walter van den Ende. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gian Maria Volontè, Sami Frey, (more)
- 1987
- PG
In this erotic drama, Marcel (Ralph Michael) fantasizes about being with his daughter-in-law Simone (Beatie Edney) after the death of his wife. The woman pretends to be surprised over his attention but does nothing to discourage his advances. He promises to build her a swimming pool in order to further his fantasies. The story is taken from the novel by Junichiro Tamizaki. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ralph Michael, Beatie Edney, (more)
- 1987
In this award-winning film, Robert Havinck is an attorney who wins his freedom from his unhappy marriage to Lydia when she commits suicide by automobile, conjuring up an auto accident to die in. Unfortunately, she took a complete stranger along with her, and a combination of Robert's having some small feeling of guilt at not having divorced her years before, and curiosity about her motives, leads him to team up with his fifteen-year old daughter Eva to explore Lydia's final days and her motives for suicide. As they investigate, flashbacks tell Lydia's story and reveal that Robert's arid lack of emotional warmth was a major contributing factor in her death. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1983
A traditional Belgian father and his modern-thinking son battle it out in this family drama set in Belgium during the early 1900s. The conflict centers around the planting of flax. The son would rather play around with the milkmaid than farm. To instill his work ethic within the free-thinking lad, the father buys a neighboring farm. It doesn't work until the father lies upon his death bed. The loyal son comes around and begins to help. The cinematography for the film is notable. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vic Moeremans, Dora van der Groen, (more)
- 1975
Doctor Pulder is bored with his life as a rural family physician. The visit of an old friend, now a famous neurologist, excites him greatly. The morning after the visit, however, he discovers that his morphine supply is gone, thanks to his old friend's growing addiction. Shortly afterward, the addicted neurologist dies. Pulder is transformed by these events and leaves his wife and children to move in with the addict's mistress. She is both an addict and an alcoholic, and the doctor is fascinated by the depravity of it all. His life, too, begins a downward spiral. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kees Brusse
- 1975
Using a non-linear storytelling technique, this film examines the life story of a schizophrenic Dutch girl who is enabled to rejoin society. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1974
Dakota is about a pilot who owns an airplane of the same name. Dick (Kees Brusse) takes on odd jobs with the plane, many of them illegal. He accomplishes at least one long-distance flying feat, which astonishes his knowledgeable friends, and suffers from the isolation and loneliness of his solo job. In one scene, he has a nightmare in which one of his employers, a beautiful woman, falls from the plane. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1973
Nothing much happens in this Belgian drama. Laarmans (Romain De Coninck) is an old man, and finds his family life claustrophobic. Most evenings, he escapes the confines of the house and wanders around Antwerp's red-light district. Three Afghani men who have become sailors approach him one evening, asking him to help them find a certain girl. As he wanders around the city with the three sailors, he fantasizes about what this girl must be like, but they never find her. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1972
This Belgian melodrama explores the tragic interaction between a besotted nobleman and a scheming nurse. Rolande (Jan Decleir), a widower, is the lord of a country manor in Brabant, and he was injured in World War I. Diane (Elizabeth Tessier), a French nurse, helped him back to health. He returns to his manor and is surrounded by his son, his mother, and his sister-in-law, who is in love with him. However, he cannot forget the beautiful Diane. He journeys to Paris to be with her, selling off ancestral lands to shower gifts and money on her. As his involvement proceeds, he murders his own uncle, ends his engagement with his sister-in-law, forces his mother from his home and becomes ultimately responsible for the death of his son. Finally he is able to bring Diane back to his home. It is then that he discovers who the real monster is, and commits suicide. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1968
This tedious feature concerns a woman who disguises herself as a man to avoid prosecution for the murder of her lover 15 years ago. She is the last living member of a wealthy family from Vienna, and she has spent the years after the murder traveling with her female servant Victorine. Her tours of Europe have provided her with an anonymous cloak that allows her freedom of movement but little solace. Nearing 40, the woman/man suffers from guilt, weariness and a life unfulfilled as she contemplates suicide as the only way out of her dilemma in this unconventional tragedy. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
