Goodbye

(TOT ZIENS) ((DUTCH))

By DAVID ROONEY

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A Meteor Film/Polygram Filmed Entertainment release (in Benelux) of an Ariel Film Produkties BV production in association with NPS Television. (International sales: Ariel Film, Amsterdam.) Produced by Suzanne Van Voorst. Co-producer, Wim Ode. Directed by Heddy Honigmann. Screenplay, Helena Van Der Meulen, Honigmann.
 
Laura ... Johanna Ter Steege
Jan ... Guy Van Sande
Ann ... Els Dottermans
Wouter ... Warre Borgmans
Ine ... Nelleke Zitman
Stefan ... Stefan Van Der Staak
 

An achingly true account of consuming passion with an almost unbearably intense sexual and emotional charge running through it, Dutch director Heddy Honigmann's "Goodbye" is a drama of rare observational acuity. Desire and pain are rendered with honesty and economy, without the need for dramatic artifice, providing deep pangs of recognition for anyone with even half a heart. Lead actress Johanna Ter Steege landed a special jury award at Locarno for her remarkable performance in the film, which should win wide festival and quality TV exposure.

Opening is like a tantalizing round of foreplay, as Jan (Guy Van Sande) cruises Laura (Ter Steege) while they glide round an Amsterdam ice rink and follow that with a bicycle ride home. Silent courtship progresses straight to a fumbling clinch on her doorstep, a heated body lock that carries them upstairs and a serious sexual tussle on the carpet. Their first words are spoken only in the exhausted aftermath, with Laura dissolving into laughter after learning that he's Belgian.

She reacts less lightly to the news that he's happily married, but something has clearly clicked between them, setting the wheels in motion. Jan at first backs off in fear of losing his wife, Ann (Els Dottermans), then comes back with a peace offering. Laura visibly soars with the fierce optimism of someone pinning her hopes on a long-awaited relationship, and sinks again each time he hesitates.

The on-again, off-again path of the affair is played out like a variable two-way magnet, with the two people on either side trying to stay apart in what's plainly an unworkable deal, but unable to resist the pull.

Honigmann and co-scripter Helena Van Der Meulen refuse to clutter the drama with romantic angst or to verbalize every emotional twist of the knife. Instead they sustain the basically uneventful proceedings simply by zeroing in on aspects of love that feel unfailingly real and unembellished. The film's subtle shifts in mood are richly enjoyable, moving effortlessly from warm comedy to quiet despair and back to passionate hopefulness.

Aside from Jan's married life, which slowly deteriorates as the relationship becomes an increasing force to be reckoned with, the characters' lives away from each other are related only in their bare essentials. Nonetheless, a vivid picture is formed of her job as a preschool teacher, his as a journalist, and their friendships with their respective confidants.

Making Laura as tough as she is vulnerable, Ter Steege commands complete sympathy, conveying all the subtleties of love at its best and worst. Given that his character is the one unable to make the vital decision, Van Sande connects less directly with the audience, but the actor ably communicates the fear and suffering involved in a life-changing decision. The couple's scenes together have a natural energy, making the attraction between them urgent and entirely credible.

In line with her scripting approach, director Honigmann opts for a no-distractions look, handsomely lit and shot with sharp simplicity. The film is dedicated to late Dutch film writers Ellen and Gerry Waller, the latter a long-term Variety contributor.

Camera (color), Stef Tijdink; editor, Sander Vos; music, Wouter Van Bemmel; art direction, Vincent De Pater; costume design, Bernadette Corstens; sound, Piotr Van Dijk, Leo Franssen; assistant director, Clara Van Gool. Reviewed at Locarno Film Festival (competing), Aug. 11, 1995. Running time: 114 MIN.