Petra Laseur Movies

At the time of its production and release, Bride Flight reportedly checked in as one of the most lavish and expensive Dutch-language features ever made. The title of this epic tale refers, quite literally, to a period airplane flight transporting new brides from Holland to New Zealand, where they plan to meet their intendeds. Karina Smulders, Elise Schaap, Anna Drijver star, respectively, as quiet and backward yet sensual farm girl Ada; über-content homemaker-to-be Marjorie; and highly vocal, self-confident, Jewish fashion designer Esther. As the tale opens, it is the mid-1950s; the three women share the same flight, and instantly forge a fast friendship, thanks in no small part to their shared amorous advances from Frank (Waldemar Torenstra), a cowboy-cum-adventurer also on the plane. Upon arrival, Frank and Ada fall deeply in love, but Ada's marriage to Micha Hulshof, a devout Christian who lives with her in a converted World War II bunker, severely complicates this. Meanwhile, Esther and Marjorie encounter their own problems; one winds up pregnant by an unknown progenitor, while the other discovers her own infertility. After following these stories for a time, the tale flashes forward to the present day, where the women reencounter one another at the funeral of Frank (played in middle age by Rutger Hauer). Problems arise when Esther witnesses Marjorie (Petra Laseur) accompanying her son Bob (Marc Klein Essink) - thus underscoring the film's thematic meditation on the unshakable connection between present and past. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

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