Monic Hendrickx Movies
- 2007
Not to be confused with the 1987 Robert Benton-directed comedy thriller of the same name, this Nadine constitutes a grim, Dutch-language slice-of-life drama about a deeply confused woman. The Nadine in question (played, at various stages of her life, by Monic Hendrickx, Halina Reijn and Sanneke Bos) claims a tremendous amount of success in her career, but ultimately reaches the age of 42 and hears her biological clock ticking loudly away. One day, she cracks, and on impulse kidnaps the 7-month-old infant of a former boyfriend whom she runs into in the grocery store. Baby-in-tow, Nadine high-tails it to southern Europe; the presence of the infant fills her with unmitigated joy, but her conscience also checks in and demands that she return the child to its biological father. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Monic Hendrickx, Sanneke Bos, (more)
- 2007
A gruff Australian farmer puts his own lonely life at risk in order to help a desperate refugee in director Peter Duncan's intimate rural drama. John (William McInnes) is the kind of man who likes his solitude. A man of habit whose best friend stands on four legs, John's volatile temperament makes it difficult for him to connect with most people. One morning, John is gazing out of his kitchen window when he spots a bloodied young woman stammering weakly towards his house. Instinctively, the farmer carries her into his home and begins tending to her massive wounds. Though John is unable to break the language barrier that will allow him to communicate openly with the woman, it is clear that she is terrified. Later driven by instinct to hide the woman when some unexpected visitors come knocking on his door, John decides against calling the police and does his best to aid her in her slow recovery. In the process John learns that the woman's name is Tahmeena (Monic Hendrickx). As Tahmeena's grasp of the English language takes hold, she and John begin to exchange stories: hers about being a refugee in Australia and his about being a widowed farmer just trying to keep the daily routine. Eventually, the outside world comes crashing down on the pair - threatening not just their growing bond, but their very lives as well. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William McInnes, Monic Hendrickx, (more)
- 2006
First time feature filmmaker Simone van Dusseldorp explores the growing pains experienced by a sullen adolescent girl coming-of-age in the 1970s in this adaptation of Hendrickje Spoor's novel Life Does Not Exist. Heleen (Melody Klaver) is a fourteen year-old Dutch schoolgirl on family holiday with her parents and her younger brother Emile (Jorik Scholten) when she begins to hear her parents argue about their mutual marital indiscretions. When her parents finally split and the siblings go off to live with mom (Monic Hendrikx), Heleen is at first repulsed by the frequent parade of lovers marching through her broken home. Later, when Heleen begins to take an interest in the opposite sex, nerdish local Axel (Stijn Koomen) does his best to catch her attention. Unfortunately for Axel, Heleen only has eyes for the boy's rebellious best friend Steve (Damien Hope). ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Melody Klaver, Monic Hendrickx, (more)
Dutch filmmaker Paula van der Oest spins this frothy comedy about the ends to which three sisters would go to keep possession of the family's summer home in Portugal. When their 32-year-old brother, Nino, announces his engagement with his younger girlfriend, Bo, his three siblings react not with congratulatory happiness but with shocked indignation instead. For one thing, Nino was gay for most of his teens and twenties; and another, if he gets married then he inherits the summer villa. The three sisters are united by two traits: they each have vivid interior fantasy worlds -- often involving having sex with the other's husbands -- and they each dream of retiring to Portugal. Starving artist Wanda wants to open a gallery there, while writer Sonja dreams of living there with her husband. Michelle, the eldest, wants to flee her hectic domestic life as a housewife and mother to open a home for war orphans. Together, they cheerfully connive to undermine the engagement, as Bo invites them to Portugal to help plan the wedding. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvia Poorta, Anneke Blok, (more)
- 2000
Algerian-born filmmaker Karim Traidia directs this exploration of exile and asylum. A prominent and outspoken journalist, Sahafi (Sid Ahmed Agoumi) is forced to seek political asylum in the Netherlands. Much of the film occurs during a prolonged exchange between Sahafi, reptilian Dutch bureaucrat (Jaap Spijkers) and a sympathetic translator (Monic Hendrickx). This film was screened at the 2000 Rotterdam Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sid Ahmed Agouni, Jaap Spijkers, (more)
- 1998
Forced into prostitution against her will, a battered Anna (Monic Hendrickx) wanders the streets of a small town in Holland's northern Groningen area, falling before farmer Henk (Dutch theater actor Jaap Spijkers), who takes her in. Their relationship develops, but it is threatened by the imminent foreclosure on Henk's farm. Directed by Algerian-born Karim Traidia, a Dutch resident for the past 18 years, this film is one of the low-budget features in the end-of-the-millennium Dutch film series known as "Route 2000," which also includes Paula van der Oest's Tate's Voyage, Mart Dominicus' Fl. 19,99, and Boris Pavel Conen's Temmink. World premiere at the 1998 Rotterdam Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jaap Spijkers, Monic Hendrickx, (more)
- 1998
- NR
A strange young man decides to invent for himself the happy and stable life he's never actually had in this Dutch comedy. Kees (Ramsey Nasr) is a gently eccentric loner who takes his imaginary dog for a walk each evening and likes to listen in on his neighbors' conversations. One of the reasons he takes an interest in the lives of other families is that he has little family history of his own; his father is dead, and his mother, no pillar of behavioral stability, destroyed all their family photos in an emotional episode prior to her current stay in a mental hospital. When the chronically unemployed Kees gets a job at a bank, many of his co-workers don't know what to make of him, and scarcely anyone talks to him -- until the day someone comments on a photo in his wallet. Though he doesn't actually know the woman in the picture, Kees tells them the woman in the photo is his girlfriend and starts spinning tales about their "relationship." Before long, Kees has invented an entire alternate personality and is stealing photos from others to fit the new "friends" and "family" he's created. De Man Met De Hond (aka A Man and His Dog) was warmly received in its screenings at the 1999 Rouen Festival of Nordic Film and the Rotterdam Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ramsey Nasr, Viviane de Muynck, (more)
