Jef Van de Water

A passionate affair set against the intense encounter between a film-maker and a novelist. The story begins with young scriptwriter François tracking down the author of a once-scandalous novel. His aim is to adapt the work for the screen but several elements of the novel he finds difficult to comprehend. The author, Jeanne, is initially cautious of relaying information, insisting the presumably autobiographical book in no way relates to her personal life. However, eventually she takes the man into confidence to tell the background of Benvenuta.

Hugo Claus rewrote and directed Friday as the cinematic version of his original 1969 play of the same name. Just as in the play, the story begins with the theme of incest, as the father Georges (Frank Aendenboom) returns from serving his jail sentence for that crime. Unlike the earlier play, however, the film does not emphasize that aspect of the story. When Georges gets home he finds out that his wife Jeanne (Kitty Courbois) has had an illegitimate child by a younger man, Erik (Herbert Flack), and now both of them must somehow try to return to a normal life, given their only too obvious lapses in moral judgment. As the husband and wife try hard to accommodate each other's failings and start to get to know each other again, Erik comes back into the picture. Now the three of them must resolve the deep-seated conflicts that brought them to this emotionally-wrought juncture of love and betrayal.

Johan Ten Berghe joins the Dutch army when the Dutch East Indies unilaterally declare independence as Indonesia. He initiates his naive driver Twan in life in the East, having grown up there as son of colonial official Hendrik, now missing. Their adventures intertwine with Johan's childhood memories, especially concerning his native best friend, Oeroeg, who joined the rebellion, as well as their nanny and later de facto stepmother. Conflicting loyalties become tangible in extreme situations

Placide's dad tells him on his deathbed he'll haunt Placide if he doesn't find a wife soon. Placide cautiously agrees, but he only wants to settle for a very beautiful woman. That might be easier said than done, since he is a vagabond. When he accidentally enters a photo shoot, Placide meets Sarah. He falls in love, but she is way out of his reach.

A factory worker is employed in the desolate, cold-storage cellars of a brewery. His spare time he devotes to collecting romantic images of wild flowers and sticking newspaper cuttings in an album, demonstrating a preference for more gruesome stories. Murders, rapes and acts of violence are the events which accompany his everyday existence and invest it with a tinge of color.

Based on a notorious Belgian court case, My Friend, or The Hidden Life of Jules Depraeter follows Jules Depraeter, a charming but manipulative businessman from Ghent who becomes entangled in robbery, fraud and conspiracy. When police discover stolen jewels and securities in the trunk of a garage owner linked to him, a complex investigation unfolds. During the trial, Depraeter attempts to save himself by accusing a respected investigating judge of masterminding the crimes and plotting the murder of his own wife. Told through courtroom scenes and flashbacks, the film gradually reveals a web of lies, corruption and psychological manipulation.

Lieve is a Belgian woman who marries just as World War II is beginning. When the Germans invade, her husband goes off to fight them, but he swiftly returns home after the invasion succeeds. Later, he decides that the Germans are on the right side of things, and goes off to fight for them on the Eastern Front. Soon afterward, a resistance fighter is stranded on her doorway, and she hides him. The two of them fall in love, and the conflicts and joys of this relationship cause Lieve continued grief well after the end of the war.

A 40-year-old mother struggles to deal with the anxiety of growing older after her eldest daughter moves out and the youngest distances herself.

Hugues cannot get over the untimely death of his wife Blanche, who made him happy for ten years. He lives alone in his house in Bruges, a city he would like to be dead like his wife. The sorrowful widower has transformed the place he lives in into a shrine dedicated to his beloved wife. One day, he meets Jeanne, a ballet dancer, who looks like Blanche.

Sam starts his first week as a helper at a brickyard. He got this job because his new boss is the chairman of the local football team for which he plays. He's a talented goalkeeper. There is much resemblance between Sam and Louis, a 65-year-old who is pottering through the last days before his retirement. They both react strongly to the illegal dumping practices of a firm from the city. But also their boss' hands do not seem to be entirely clean in this business. Will Sam sink into the rut and routine that Louis is rebelling against?

The family patriarch Van Paemel is a farmer on baron de Wilde's estate. His mild-mannered son Désire is accidentally shot during a hunting party on the estate and remains an invalid. Eduard, the eldest son, is a member of the socialist workers' movement and involved in strike actions in the city. Against her father's wishes, his daughter Cordule starts an affair with the poacher Masco. His youngest daughter, Romanie, is forced to work as a domestic servant at the castle, where she is seduced by Maurice, the baron's son and heir, and becomes pregnant. When the youngest son Kamiel also has to leave the farm because he is drafted into the army, the lack of workers on Van Paemel's farm becomes critical. As a result, the family is evicted from their home because they cannot pay the rent. Three of the children emigrate to the USA, one becomes a nun and one dies, until only the farmer and his wife remain.

In a part of Flanders where flax is the main crop, farmer Vermeulen rules his estate like an 'old school' patriarch, stern and authoritarian, nobody else's word is ever taken seriously, just scolded fools, he rather risks being wrong then considering any advice. His marriage is based on a grim understanding: the wife Barbele accepts his heartless manner with everyone, even their studious, smart, healthy, studly son and heir Louis, but his two silly sisters are spoiled with a pointless fancy nunnery boarding school education fit for the upper classes. Farm-life is hard enough, laboring without machines or reliable weather, but this year the stubborn master made it even worse by picking the riskier, badly drained field and sowing later then his neighbors, even when luck turns he'll fetch a lower price for it. Poor practically perfect Louis is granted neither praise, respect nor any pleasure, however hard and well he slaves, obedient like the hired farmhands although well-read. Even ...

When his father dies a young man has the choice to continue the farmwork of his old man who suffered because of the hard labour and all the regulations.

When he finds out that his company has expropriated his own mother, a successful young manager gets deeply upset. Money and power now have a different meaning. He needs to struggle against his own self and stake everything in order to reorganize true values in his life. His career is at stake. When his mother dies in the pension she's been put, his point of limit is reached. He feels responsible and takes revenge through terrorist actions. The beast explodes.