A summer day so hot it melts friendship into murder.
After a group of teenagers discover one of their friends lying dead on a river bank on one of the hottest days of summer, a story of jealousy, insecurity and peer pressure gradually unfolds. Group leader Caesar is able to magnify - out of all proportion - the small grievances that each of Jessie's friends bear towards her and transforms them into a general and pervasive hatred that leads ultimately to her horrible, senseless killing.
Acting
van de Sande Bakhuyzen's terrifyingly casual malevolence.
Direction
Smitsman turns a sunny day oppressively sinister.
Director
Hanro Smitsman
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Based on the 2002 murder of Maja Bradarić in Enschede, committed by her own friends; the case shocked the Netherlands and sparked debates about youth violence.
Smitsman consciously avoided showing Jessie's perspective until late, forcing audiences into complicity with the group's rationalizations.
NL
