Love Life

It sounds like the beginning of a great love story: the advertising professional and womanizer Stijn (Barry Atsma) is already at the first sight of the smart and attractive businesswoman Carmen (Carice van Houten) hopelessly fallen. A passionate affair quickly turns into love, and before they know it, they're at the altar. They seem to have their luck all sewn up: Success, beauty and soon a lovely daughter - Stijn and Carmen have everything you can dream of.

But then fate strikes with an icy hand: Carmen learns that she has breast cancer. Stijn tries to stand by his wife during this difficult time, but the consequences of the radical treatment eventually become unbearable for him. He falls into an affair with the painter Roos (Anna Drijver), who brings some lightness and joy back into Stijn's life. But when Carmen's health improves but her marriage is in ruins, Stijn suspects he's given up too soon.

Based on Kluun's bestselling book Mitten ins Gesicht, Reinout Oerlemans has directed a moving drama that is one of the most successful Dutch films of all time, with 1.2 million moviegoers. Even if some moments seem more like a TV production, Oerlemans Love Life - Liebe trifft Leben can make up for the minor weaknesses with its completely uninhibited handling of themes such as sex, illness and death. Especially since nudity is presented here as something completely natural, the intensity of the relationship between Stijn and Carmen becomes more believable and downright palpable. But it also becomes clear how quickly the tables can turn, how quickly lust and passion can turn into fear and suffering.

As a viewer, one is inclined to hate Stijn simply for indulging in an affair at the moment when his wife needs him most. But the fact that his motives are made understandable to a certain extent by the very honest way the story is told is to the film's credit. Stijn isn't the big hero, who strongly stands by his one and only love. He is just a normal human being with flaws and weaknesses, who is not willing to face his fears. That may not be fair, but it's human. And even if the lives of Stijn and Carmen seem downright exaggeratedly beautiful, especially at the beginning, reality sets in here at the latest.

Sure, in the end Love Life - Love Meets Life is not entirely free of kitsch and clichés, but that doesn't change the fact that this bestselling adaptation has become a very moving drama that once again demonstrates the talent of the great Carice Van Houten (Black Book). A heavy topic is presented here in a moving way, but also with some humor and great entertainment value. That's exactly what makes Love Life - Liebe trifft Leben worth watching, even if the production has a certain TV character here and there. One more word of warning: The tender-hearted should not forget the handkerchiefs, because from time to time the tear gland is pressed very hard. Worth seeing

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp