Het Boek van Alle Dingen (2024)
Genre: Drama
Duration: 90 minuten
Alternative title: The Book of Everything
Country:
Netherlands / Latvia
Directed by: Ineke Houtman
Stars: Brandon River Coene, Daan Schuurmans and Sallie Harmsen
IMDb score:
6,6 (179)
Releasedate: 10 October 2024
This movie is not available on US streaming services.
Het Boek van Alle Dingen plot
The strictly religious father of 9-year-old Thomas leaves a big mark on the family with his own rules of life. Thanks to his special imagination, Thomas finds ways to escape this oppressive reality. With the help of his girlfriend Jesus and his open-minded neighbor, he rebels against his father and pulls both his rebellious teenage sister and obedient mother along with him. Happiness begins with no longer being afraid.
Actors and actresses
Thomas
Father
Mother / Jesus
Margot
Mevr. van Amersfoort
Aartsengel
Bea
Tante Pie
Zusje van Eliza
Stoer Meisje
Reviews & comments
boemboem27
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- 1546 messages
- 1371 votes
Film about the absurdly strict religious father with his family and Thomas who wants to escape from this.
Set in the 1960s
Well presented, well acted, especially by Daan Schuurmans.
The film's running time is just long enough to keep it enjoyable
Translated from Dutch · View original
mrklm
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- 11629 messages
- 10041 votes
Film adaptation of the book of the same name by Guus Kuijer about nine-year-old Thomas [Brandon River Coene] who grows up in a strict religious family in the early 1950s with a father [Daan Schuurmans] as self-proclaimed family leader, a mother [Sallie Harmsen] who accepts the traditional family hierarchy and an older sister [Aiko Beemsterboer] who is at an age where she questions the existing system of norms and values. Aunt Pie [Eva Damen] occasionally throws a stick in the chicken coop, father and mother disagree about neighbor Van Amersfoort [Margo Dames] and Thomas falls in love with Eliza [Emma van Gompel]. Houtman finds the right balance between tragedy and comedy in this amusing dissection of post-war Netherlands.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Filmreiziger
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- 598 messages
- 521 votes
Much better than I expected. A beautifully filmed coming-of-age story. I consider it a small, lesser-known masterpiece.
The acting is excellent by everyone: very realistic, no overacting. And the characters don't become caricatures. There's also some bad in the good, and vice versa. In the film, Thomas's imagination intertwines with reality, but the two are easily separated, and it never becomes unclear or confusing. The imagination also contributes functionally to understanding Thomas's development. Jesus is actually an imaginary friend (voiced by his mother) who has or had many young children and who serves as a moral compass for Thomas in difficult times and when he needs support. The film also finds a nice balance between a serious tone (because it's quite a heavy subject) and a nice tragicomic edge, which keeps things quite lighthearted. The film is also full of metaphors and imagery (which I think I only partially understood). The ending is also beautiful, making it clear that the father is losing his grip on the family (and realizes it) and Thomas, his sister, and his mother have successfully freed themselves from the father's dominance. Finally saw a really good film from the Netherlands!
My only criticism is perhaps that the film could have been longer (but that's actually a compliment). The story could have been developed further, and there was plenty of room for interesting other threads (like the blossoming friendship between Thomas and Elize), but on the other hand: what isn't revealed in the film, the viewer can easily fill in with their own imagination, which is completely in line with the film's atmosphere 
. 4.5 stars for me.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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