Black Swans
'Zwarte Zwanen'
Feature film début of director Colette Bothof about the brief passionate relationship between the intelligent, dreamy Marleen and the defiant Vince on South Spanish coast.
The story sets off with the idyllic images of a sun-drenched deserted beach on the South Spanish coast. It is here that the intelligent, dreamy Marleen (Carice van Houten) meets the defiant Vince (Dragan Bakema). It is love at first sight. Using an observing camera and attractive images, the film recounts their brief but passionate relationship. Marleen works in a Spanish home for the elderly. Vince is an adventurer who had planned to cross the Sahara in his car, but due to car trouble ended up on an old fishing boat on the beach. Soon, Marleen moves in with Vince. It seems that the outside world no longer exists for them; they laze about in a hammock, swim, go for motorbike rides. Marleen becomes more and more obsessed with Vince, but the more love she gives, the more Vince keeps his distance. When one night he does not come home, she panics.
The film was shot on the Spanish Costa de Almería. The title refers to the old Dutch children’s song in which black and white swans symbolise angels that accompany people at birth (white) and death (black).
- Director: Colette Bothof
- Writer: Arend Steenbergen
- Main cast: Carice van Houten, Dragan Bakema, Mohammed Chaara, Tamara Louw, Anna Sanchez Marques
- Producer: Rolf Koot
- Co-producer: Petra Goedings
- Producenten: Phanta Film International BV, All Yours Film, M&B Film BV
- Distributor: A-Film Distributie
Award: Golden Calf Best Sound Design, Bart Jillesen
Nominations Golden Calf: Best Actor, Dragon Bakema; Best Actrice, Carice van Houten; Best Music, Han Otten, Best Camera, Richard van Oosterhout