25/04/2013 - Alex van Warmerdam's Borgman is a surprise inclusion in the lineup of this year's Cannes competition

Though Dutch films such as Code Blue [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and R U There have been presented at the Cannes Film Festival in recent years, they always appeared in sidebars such as The Directors' Fortnight or Un certain regard. But when the lineup of this year's competition was announced last week, a Dutch film was finally again among the 19 titles vying for the Palme d'Or.

The lucky film in question is Borgman [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alex van Varmerdam
interview: Reinout Scholten van Aschat
film profile], the latest film by Dutch veteran Alex van Warmerdam. The film was produced by the director's brother, Marc van Warmerdam, for Graniet Film.

The last Dutch film to play in competition was 1975's Mariken van Nieumeghen, by Jos Stelling.

Van Warmerdam remains one of the most high-profile Dutch directors abroad and especially in France, where his 1992 drama The Northerners was re-released last December for its 20th anniversary by Ed Distribution. That film is currently still playing in the MK2 Beaubourg in Paris.

Van Warmerdam's films are comedy-dramas with a stilted quality in the mise-en-scene and an extremely dry sense of humour. His work has been likened to that of Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki, another Cannes regular.

Unlike Kaurismäki, however, Van Warmerdam also appears as an actor in his own films, including in the absurdist bourgeois comedy The Last Days of Emma Blank [+see also:
interview: The Last Days of Emma Blank…
film profile], a 2009 Venice Days and Toronto selection in which the writer-director played the family dog.

Borgman is reportedly more of a thriller and again stars Van Warmerdam, his wife and frequent collaborator, actress Annet Malherbe, as well as Flemish actors Jeroen Perceval (Bullhead [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bart Van Langendonck
interview: Michaël R. Roskam
film profile]) and Jan Bijvoet (The Broken Circle Breakdown).

Bijvoet plays the titular character, Camiel Borgman, a strange man who introduces himself into a perfect bourgeois family that lives in a leafy suburb.

Belgian outfit Epidemic and the Danish production company Angel Films co-produced the title, which will be distributed in the Netherlands on August 29th by Cinéart.