Freek is a 49-year-old advertising executive and media figure. He appears to have it all: he has won many awards in his field, has a great wife Iris and a ten year old adopted son Werner. Iris is 39 and a strong partner, professionally and personally. She's beautiful, smart and a workaholic. Freek is known in the advertising world as a charmer and womanizer. He meets a dazzling young woman, the 24-year-old Alberta, whom he falls for. She persuades him to go to the place she shares a name with; Alberta, in the Canadian Rockies. The plan is to escape life in the Netherlands and paint expressionistic landscapes of the Canadian scenery together. Boredom strikes sooner than anticipated and Alberta goes in search of adventure elsewhere, leaving Freek hopeless and alone. Can he handle life on his own?
Acting
Boissevain's committed unraveling of a man who peaked at 40.
Cinematography
Alberta's vast emptiness mirrors Freek's hollow success perfectly.
Director
Eddy Terstall
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Director Eddy Terstall is a major figure in Dutch cinema; this was his rare English-language excursion into North American co-production territory.
The 4.3 TMDB rating reflects its brutal honesty about male ego—audiences often punish films that make them confront themselves.
NL
