the last days of emma blank
Finally saw 'De laatste dagen van Emma Blank' ('The Last Days of Emma Blank') at the Dutch Film Festival last week. Happy to report that after the disappointment of 'Ober' ('Waiter'), Alex van Warmerdam is back at his former idiosyncratic level of dark satire and deadpan absurdity.
Perhaps Holland's only auteur - writing, directing, acting, scoring and designing his films (as well as the posters, which are works of art in themselves) - Van Warmerdam is a master at creating a highly stylized, isolated reality that strips all varnish from human relationships to reveal the raw, irrational urges lurking beneath. And the more stylized, it seems, the more powerful the result. Which would explain why 'Ober' misfired (messy reality, messy story) and why 'Emma Blank' works brilliantly.
Adapted from his own play ('Adel Blank'), the story has a simple set-up: an elderly, tyrannical lady awaiting her death in a country house in the Dutch dunes, surrounded by her staff of four - or five if you count the dog. The first sign of the bizarre game being played in this household is the fact that the dog is really a man (in a fabulous role by Van Warmerdam himself). The entire staff soon turns out to be her family, who are willing to put up with their subservient roles only because she will die soon.
Admittedly, there isn't all that much dramatic development from this premise, except for a morbidly drawn-out and often hilarious power struggle. But the shifting relations within this family and the pathetically outrageous situations it creates are more than enough for 90 minutes - thanks mostly to the razor-sharp dialogue that steers every scene from ordinary household exchanges into utter absurdity.
Here's the trailer with English subtitles. (I wondered how the dialogue, so rooted in Dutch causticness, would hold up for international audiences - but these festival reviews seem to indicate that it does.)