Van de koele meren des doods (film)
| Van de koele meren des doods | |
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DVD cover
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| Directed by | Nouchka van Brakel |
| Produced by | Matthijs van Heijningen |
| Screenplay by |
Ton Vorstenbosch Nouchka van Brakel |
| Story by | Frederik van Eeden (novel) |
| Starring |
Renée Soutendijk Derek de Lint |
| Music by |
Erik van der Wurff Erik van 't Wout |
| Cinematography | Theo van de Sande |
| Edited by | Edgar Burcksen |
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Release date
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Running time
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120 minutes |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Language | Dutch |
Van de koele meren des doods is a 1982 Dutch film, directed by Nouchka van Brakel and based on the same-named novel by Frederik van Eeden. Book and film give an account of a bourgeois woman who struggles with her sexuality. The film is known internationally as Hedwig: The Quiet Lakes and The Cool Lakes of Death. The film was selected as the Dutch entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 55th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.
The film begins in 1869. Hedwig is a girl from an upper-middle-class family. Since the death of her mother she is mainly interested in reading English books. During a visit to a cemetery she meets Johan, a young man whom she falls for immediately. She has sexual fantasies about him and is unable to hide this from her strictly religious family. Her governess tells her that she is sinning and she won't be able to get children anymore. Humiliated, she tries to commit suicide but fails.
Three years later Hedwig is a lady and meets Johan, now a poor aspiring artist. He wants to marry her but she thinks that she will make him unhappy, and instead marries a notary called Gerard. Their marriage is without passion: he has sworn chastity. Her resulting unhappiness soon manifests itself as sickness, and on the advice of her doctor the couple decide to have sex. It turns out to be a traumatic experience. She admits to her friend Leonora that she finds life too boring and predictable.
One day she gets a letter from Johan, who accuses her of being a prostitute. After a confrontation he shoots himself. Hedwig also tries to shoot herself but is stopped by Gerard. Soon after she meets Ritsaart, a romantic pianist with whom she begins an affair. When he wants her to go to bed with him she sends him away but at night she can't control her sexual fantasies.
During a passionate night with Ritsaart, Hedwig enjoys sex for the first time and intends to leave Gerard. He, filled with jealousy, plans to kill Ritsaart when he comes visiting, but their confrontation is interrupted when they note water running down the walls of the house: they run upstairs to find Hedwig in the bathroom with a slashed wrist. Gerard sees how Ritsaart turns out to be Hedwig's saving angel and lets his wife go. She moves with Ritsaart to Cobham, Kent, and impresses English society, and gives birth to a daughter, but the child dies after a few days.
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