With the festival passing the midpoint the discoveries and revelations keep on coming. One of the best sections has been an eight unit overview of Flemish language films, a national cinema based in Antwerp which is all but unknown outside of Belgium and is easily confusable with Dutch cinema because the Flemish and Dutch languages are as similar as British and American English -- but also as different! -- The standout of this section is "Rosie -- Een duivel in mijn kop" (Rosie, A Devil in my Head), 1998, directed by Patrice Toye from an original screenplay. This is the story of a sassy teenager about fifteen, Rosie of the title, who lives with her attractive mother, only 14 years older than the eponymous heroine herself! Because she had Rosie out of wedlock at such an early age, "maman" prefers to have Rosie call her "sister". Rosie, of course, suspects the truth of the matter and throughout the film acts as a kind of bullshit filter for her troubled young mother -- a beautiful, tender relationship, if somewhat beset by frequent hassles. Rosie reads trashy pulp novels and hides out on a precariously high rusting aqueduct where she indulges her adolescent sex fantasies in solitude. Michel, her mother's unemployed loser of a brother, constantly hitting on mother for money, finally comes to live with them when he is booted out of his own apartment for default of rent. What Rosie does not know, is that there is far more than mere sibling affection to the stormy relationship between Michel and her mother... All characters are deftly and compellingly delineated in a film so well written, so well directed, and above all, so well acted, that one cannot help wondering how this one didn't come to international attention at the time of release. Unforgettable performances by Aranka Coppens as Annie, Sara de Roo, the troubled mother, and Frank Vercruyssen as the incestuous uncle/father.

Another outstanding Flemish drama of the nineties is "Mannekin Pis", directed by Frank van Passel in 1995. This one was not completely overlooked, winning the Prix de la Semaine de la Critique at Cannes in '95 and also selected as the best Belgian film of the year in 1996. "Mannekin Pis", (little boy urinating), is a famous landmark in Brussels but the film does not take place there. The reference is to the key incident in the film when the hero, as a young boy, asked his parents to stop at a railroad crossing so that he could relieve himself by the side of the road. An onrushing train killed the entire family and the boy, Harry, woke up in an orphanage the next morning, having lost all his hair. This traumatic experience has left Harry, now a young man with a shiny bald pate, unable to express his feelings. He falls in love with a warm hearted pixie-like tramway conductress, Jeanne (Antje de Boeck), who happens to live in the same tenement building as he does. Their difficult relationship is overseen by the salty old widow, Denise (Ann Petersen), who is the concierge of the abode and watches over Jeanne like a mother hen. After many false starts, just when it looks like Harry will finally break out of his trance and will be able to reciprocate the love offered him, Jeanne who has a weak heart, dies in his arms. An extremely touching love story, again superbly carried off by all performers, also featuring Frank Vercruyssen as Harry in a truly memorable character creation by an actor one wants to see more of.

Still another Flemish drama is "Brussels By Night", by Marc Didden, 1983, starring Francois Beukelaers, as a handsome suicidal loner drifting about the night streets of Brussels after having committed a shocking crime which we only learn about at the end. He meets a waitress who is really a would-be actress and her Moroccan boyfriend, Ahmed, the three then forming a strange but short-lived ménage-à-trois. The film goes on in both Flemish and French underlining the bi-lingualism of the Belgian capital with references, in passing, to anti-Arab racism. The film ends violently but is, above all, the study of a man doomed to self destruction with vague echos of Louis Malle's "Feu Follet".
Not only is this Flemish survey a revelation of fine little-known films, but also the discovery of a whole stable of acting talent which deserves to be much better known.

As for new feature films in competition, "Niceland" by Icelander Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, is the only one by an internationally acclaimed director. The story takes place in Scotland -- mostly in a junkyard -- and is the first film the flamboyant F.Thor F. has directed in English. Thor Fridriksson is in town to introduce his film tonight. A film with lots of buzz is Erik Clausen's "Villa Paranoia", Denmark, starring the actor/director Clausen and the fastest rising female star in Denmark, Sonja Richter, who made a tremendous splash here two years ago in "Open Hearts". Here Richter plays a part-time actress who is hired by Clausen to take care of his speechless but extremely aggressive old father, confined to a wheelchair. High drama with elements of comedy, as Clausen is practically a monstre-sacré in Denmark where he is known both as actor and director of searing social satires.
Norway is represented by "My Jealous Barber", a droll comedy and feature debut by femme director Annette Sjursen. Bent (wide eyed Gard B. Eidsvold) is an easy going, Candide-like everyman and the last regular customer, after the death of his father, of Frank, the local barber who was once a boxer wannabe and punches a big sand bag in the back of the shop at night. When Susie, the somewhat older but very appealing aroma therapist with almost zero short term memory, moves into the neighbourhood Frank fears he may lose his last customer to her considerable charms. A rib-tickling triangle of jealousy and rejection develops between them, but everything comes out right in the end. Hildegun Riise is a lovable comedienne as the aroma therapist and Bjorn Sundquist, one of Norway's most popular older actors, is the beefy barber of the title. A very promising directorial debut by Annette Sjursen, and the only comedy on the competition roster.

Possibly the best film of all is "For the Living and the Dead", a superb family drama from Finland directed with a very sure hand by Kari Paljakka, his third feature outing. This is the story of what happens to a marriage and a surviving child, when the five year old son of the family is burned to death in a family car explosion. The father (Hannu-Pekka Bjorkman) keeps his emotions under strict control, but deep down he feels responsible for the accident, having left his cigarette lighter in the car. The wife is so out of control that she needs constant tranquilizing medication. The surviving boy has become a severe problem child at school. The story is based on a similar real life case and is dealt with in such a realistic manner that the viewer feels he is watching a documentary, not a fiction film. Obviously not the kind of picture to titillate the masses, this is one for discerning audiences who can appreciate top quality cinematic story telling of the kind of everyday drama that could happen to anyone and drastically complicate their lives.
Oddly enough, the situation here is basically the same as in the recent American film, "Hole in the Floor" starring Jeff Bridges and Kim Bassinger as a couple whose marriage is threatened by the accidental death of a child, but with one big difference. The Bassinger-Bridges version was straight Hollywood shlock, whereas Paljakka's film is the straight goods, straight from the shoulder, and no quarter asked. Prizes will be awarded two days hence.

ALEX DELEON, Rouen
March 18, 2005