Netherlands Production Platform - Nederlands Film Festival

Shocking Blue
Waterland Film
Netherlands
Director Mark de Cloe
Producer Jan van der Zanden
Producer Wilant Boekelman
Producer Koji Nelissen
40 • NPP 2008
Synopsis
William, Jack and Chris have been friends
for as long as they can remember, despite
the fact that their personalities differ a
great deal.
They spend their time watching football,
riding their mopeds and selecting bulbs in
the tulip fields. If something is wrong with
one of them, at least one of the other two is
ready to step in - until one day in April.
Jack ends up crushed under the wheels
of a tractor, which William was driving. Suddenly,
there is nothing left of the boys’
friendship: things they always used to do
together mean nothing when they are done
by just two of them. Chris makes an effort,
but William is a lump of impenetrable rock.
Inside, he’s in turmoil, secretly wondering if
Jack going off with Marianne, the girl whose
come-on look William had been too afraid to
answer the night before, had anything to do
with the accident.
William hardly dares think about it, let
alone talk. And that’s just as well, because
in the bulb-fields people don’t talk about
things like that.
When summer comes, Marianne suddenly
reappears: she is pregnant from that one
night with Jack. William sees the solution:
there, in Marianne’s womb, is something that
can bring Jack back to life. William throws
himself into this new way of looking at things,
doing all he possibly can for Marianne.
Again, everyone can see that something
is wrong; but again, no one talks about it.
Then the unborn baby dies. When William
finally talks to Chris, he realises that he’s not
responsible for either death.
William, Chris and Marianne bury the
foetus together. Then all three of them visit
Jack’s grave.
Director’s statement
With Shocking Blue, I want to make a film
about teenage dreams just before they
bloom, in that period when everything is still
possible. Teenage films are often told from
a girl’s perspective. In my opinion, it is
important that such a turbulent stage in life
is told from a boy’s perspective. Boys, too,
test their friendship and experience the
double taste of love for the first time.
In this film, nature plays an important
part. As a matter of fact, I see nature as a
cast member. It doesn’t intrude, but it is
simply omnipresent in the story, without
explanation.
The cinematographic style of the script
goes very well with my style of filming. But
the strongest characteristic is that the
drama is left open, even if it’s very clear
what’s going on. In this way, the script gets
more space to breathe, enabling it to blossom.
This gives me the possibility to make
a recognisable, poetic narration that should
be enchanting.
Director Mark de Cloe
Emmy-nominated director Mark de Cloe
attended the Rietveld Academy and the
Binger Film Institute. In 1994, he made Miss
Blanche and in 1995 Leklicht, lekliefde.
His short film Gitanes (VPRO) received
the NPS prize for Best Short Film in 1998
and won a prize at the International Film
Festival of Avanca in 1999.
In 1998, de Cloe adapted the novella
Everest and this was followed, in 1999, by the
short film Moët & Chandon. He received the
NPS Prize for Best Short Film in 2004 for one
of the episodes in Boy Meets Girl Stories.
In 2004, his Valse wals, which was the
closing film at the Netherlands Film Festival,
received two nominations for a Golden Calf;
got a distribution deal; was shown at the
Dance on Camera Festival in New York and
LA, and was a winner at the Prix Italia in
Performing Arts 2006.
In 2005, de Cloe directed the Talpa
series Lieve lust (NL Film) and, in 2006, the
film Zomerdag (NPS) and episodes of the
Talpa series Koppels (Egmond Film).
He is currently working on the feature
film Het leven uit een dag.