One cold winter's day, Jacob and his sister Marie are abandoned in a wood by their out of work father. In his jacket Jacob finds a letter from their mother urging them to go to her brother in Spain. Once in Spain, it turns out that their uncle is dead. Marie meets Diego, a wealthy charming Spanish surgeon, and falls in love with him. Diego lives with his sick, domineering sister, Teresa. To Jacob's astonishment, Marie wants to marry Diego. Even after the wedding has taken place, jealous Jacob tries to get his sister away from Diego. When this doesn't succeed, Jacob starts to provoke his brother-in-law. It soon transpires that no one will go unpunished for this.
Acting
Derwig's simmering resentment as Jacob is genuinely uncomfortable to witness.
Direction
Van Warmerdam's deadpan cruelty lands like a slap you didn't see coming.
Production
Spain's harsh beauty vs. the family's ugliness—visual irony that stings.
Director
Alex van Warmerdam
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Van Warmerdam is a Dutch theater legend who treats cinema like a cramped stage—every frame feels deliberately claustrophobic, a national sensibility of Calvinist restraint curdling into something nasty.
The film's Spanish title, 'Grimm,' drops the fairy-tale pretense entirely in some markets, but the original Dutch 'Grimm' keeps the ambiguity—are these the Brothers' victims or their spiritual children? The ending suggests both.
NL
