“Hemel” by Sacha Polak (2012)

Movies directed by women

Facets of Fatherhood (3/10)

First Feature

Good script, dialogues, humor, images, music
Excellent personages, direction
Top score: gender (10)

A young woman who leads a promiscuous life like her father that she emulates feels suddenly lost and abandoned when her father falls in love
An impressive debut over the meaning of love
Great score, and a “stunning, star-making performance, which, in one striking close-up after another, sharply captures the fear and pain of having to let go and grow up.”
“Polak’s episodic tale has a dreaminess marked by shots that drift in and out of focus to convey Hemel’s retreat from real feeling into vulgar sex talk, or tilt from right to left on a fixed axis to suggest that she’s careening out of control.” [Nick Schager]

Cast: Hannah Hoekstra, Hans Dagelet, Rifka Lodeizen
Director: Sacha Polak
Writer: Helena van der Meulen (screenplay)
Cinematography by Daniël Bouquet
Film Editing by Axel Skovdal Roelofs