English summary

“Strong debut about the searing desire to have children”

“Humorous and moving film”

Maud and Frank are on holiday in Chile, hoping for a new start. After years of trying, they have been told that they will never be able to have children. Maud refuses to accept this, and the two have an argument – after which she disappears. She travels, alone, from the south to the north of Chile.

Along the way she meets Messi, the young son of a Chilean trucker. This chance meeting is the start of a disarming adventure. Stunningly filmed, the journey through the ever-changing Chilean landscape gives Maud a sense of space and the chance to distance herself from her past as she travels along dusty highways. In anonymous roadside cafes she is an unknown ‘blondie’ who can make up a different life story at each stop.

Marleen Jonkman hits the nail on the head with La Holandesa , her directing debut. The film was made by a half Dutch, half Chilean crew, whose different backgrounds and approaches all contributed to the final screenplay. In the title role, Rifka Lodeizen ensures that we are always on Maud’s side, no matter how foolishly she behaves.  Maud is so obsessed with her wish for a child that the most difficult thing for her is to learn to be alone. A moving drama about a woman adrift who finds her own way again.