Paaz (2026)

The Netherlands' best actress with a mediocre plot and also weak direction in terms of choices. This is a heavy subject (including a phone number if you're having suicidal thoughts in the credits), but the tone is quite lighthearted at times. It even borders on corny. That starts right from the beginning, but the many characters (that's what they are) in the episode itself don't help either. Someone like Verbaan is a breath of fresh air here with a sober, understated role. The book also had a certain lighthearted tone, but you were always aware of being in a psychiatric ward where things really aren't that pleasant. And that's all drenched in that typical, bland, awful music that's incredibly dull. Music for people with no taste (I don't mean bad taste, but truly with no taste, the kind of people who just want background noise, who like to have Q-Music on at work, that kind of people).

Even Gaite Jansen occasionally suffers from the lighthearted tone, mainly because the situations are so poorly written. She does her best and makes the most of them in those scenes, skillfully maintaining a believable quality. But when the director lets her go and simply lets her do her thing, you realize how incredibly good she is, with her facial expressions alone conveying a profound sense of repressed and hidden grief. Just look at her face when she's in the car. And at the end, she manages to be moving, too.

All in all, not a great film, but I wasn't bored at all, and Jansen is worth keeping, so it just barely gets a passing grade. 3.0*.

Translated from Dutch · View original

A decent film about a hard-working woman who is admitted to a psychiatric hospital after attempting suicide. The main character is quite well-developed (thanks in part to a fine performance by Gaite Jansen), but the other characters are somewhat neglected. Despite the somewhat heavy subject matter, the film is quite lighthearted (at times even a little too lighthearted). A mere 3.0 stars.

Translated from Dutch · View original