Gerrie, a Dutch man in his sixties, left the Netherlands a few years ago to live in Portugal with his second wife. As the film opens, he flies to Rotterdam, his hometown, for a three-day-visit. The reason: he is going to his doctor for the annual check-up and he also has his usual errands to run. Gerrie is accompanied by his adult, eccentric and unkempt son Dick who is hoping to spend some quality time with his father. But it’s not easy to talk to each other. When they meet for the first time at a bus station, they just greet each other with a cold and distant handshake.
Gerrie cannot hide the fact that he does not approve of Dick’s lifestyle and his fruitless business ideas. One idea, for example, requires Dick to check the value of each ownerless chair with his mobile phone because he wants to sell it online. Gerrie constantly criticises his son, while all Dick wants is some affection from his father. Instead, the son follows his father on all his visits – to the doctor, the dentist, the old factory where Gerrie used to work, to a storage room where in a nostalgic fit they are unable to throw away old children’s toys because they cannot leave their past behind. The only wish that Dick has is to visit his late grandmother’s house, where he grew up. Father and son keep busy all day just to avoid talking to each other. But suddenly the three days are nearly over.
Following his 2014 feature film debut Between 10 and 12 (Tussen 10 en 12) Dutch filmmaker Peter Hoogendoorn has now made an intimate and gentle film about the relationship between two very different men, overly correct the father, unfit for life the son, who have grown apart and are now trying to find their way back to each other with helpless, unspoken efforts that are not only irritating, but also very funny at times. The dialogues are very well written – with a dry and witty sense of humour. In some situations there are even comic slapstick interludes, such as when Dick carries around an old chair that is supposed to be worth a fortune.
Equally important is the cinematography. Hoogendoorn decided to shoot his film in black and white. He felt (as he told the audience in the Q&A after the public screening) that Rotterdam was too chaotically colourful. Now the film beautifully conveys the mixed and contrasting feelings that the two men have for each other. The camera observes Dick and Gerrie with long lenses as they walk through the streets. Instead of placing the camera close to the characters and using shot-countershot footage Hoogendoorn films the characters from a distance – almost like a voyeur – together in one frame in the public space. The meaning is clear: father and son are bound together, despite all differences.
Ton Kaas as Gerrie and Guido Pollemans as Dick give endearing performances. Pollemans in particular is convincing as a lazy git who can be very engaging with his half sister’s family and very tender with his nurse girlfriend (Line Pillet as Bianca in another notable performance), but only when his father is not around.
Highlights of the film are the nostalgic visit of Dick’s childhood home, where father and son surprise the new owners (a young lesbian couple) and revel in memories (they even find old keepsakes in the cellar) and the long farewell at the train station, which avoids every cliché we know about train station farewells.
With Three Days of Fish (Drie dagen vis), Hoogendoorn has made a very personal film. He had the same problems with his father that Dick has. The surprising effect is that even the audience is encouraged to reflect on their own family ties.
Michael Ranze
©FIPRESCI 2024