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IFFR 2025 Big Screen Competition

Review: Idyllic

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- Aaron Rookus’s sophomore feature is a pleasant rollercoaster of emotions, exploring death, grief and life through three generations

Review: Idyllic
Hadewych Minis (left) and Titus Theunissen in Idyllic

Three years after his first film, Goodbye Stranger, Dutch filmmaker Aaron Rookus is back on the big screen with a life-affirming dramedy titled Idyllic [+see also:
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. Well-paced, endearing and captivating, Rookus’s sophomore feature is surely one of the most surprising titles at this year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam, where the picture had its world premiere in the Big Screen Competition.

The plot of Idyllic follows a middle-aged psychiatrist, Viktor, who struggles to find his place in the dating scene after his recent coming-out (a fish-out-of-water character brilliantly played by Eelco Smits), while his opera-diva sister Annika (a distraught Hadewych Minis) faces a terminal diagnosis and reflects on the different life paths she could have taken. Their grandmother Joke (a beautifully annoying Beppie Melissen), tired of her existence, seeks an end that no one will help her with, while a ten-year-old boy, Timo (the talented Isacco Limper), races to tick off everything on his bucket list, believing his days are numbered. Around each one of them, a microcosm of characters emerges – one of the most notable being Musa (Nabil Mallat), a forty-something school teacher who is a victim of the events unfolding and seems to have lost interest in his family and his work.

The sharp writing makes this film intriguing and entertaining to watch. Some relevant examples of Rookus’s brilliant inventiveness include Viktor’s clumsy encounter with a gigolo (Eli Rietveld), Timo’s curious exchanges with his close friend Isaac (Nathan Mbui) and Joke’s exasperated antipathy towards her young caregiver Mohammed (Sya Cyrroes), among others.

Technically speaking, the pristine camerawork – courtesy of DoP Emo Weemhoff – manages to take in both cold and warm environments, demonstrating excellent control of lighting conditions. This reflects the characters’ swinging moods without reinventing the wheel but still achieving effective results.

In addition, Sten Sheripov’s score is playful, mixing original tracks with Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca as well as lively tunes from the 1950s and 1960s, such as Johnny Mathis’s “It’s Not for Me to Say” and The Du-Ettes’ “Please Forgive Me”.

The cast is well-oiled, with magnetic performances capable of keeping the audience hooked. In particular, Viktor’s lost gaze is easy to empathise with, Annika’s discomfort is plain to see on screen, Musa’s apathetic attitude is relatable, and Timo’s naïveté is fun yet touching.

All in all, the picture manages to strike a good balance between humour and drama, skilfully avoiding rhetorical trappings and the clichés typical of melodramas. There’s a pinch of sentimentalism here and there, of course, but luckily, this never gets over the top. And despite the presence of numerous characters, they are all well defined and their storylines are rather easy to follow. Some noticeable touches of surrealism are also perfectly dosed, constituting added value instead of making the plot overly convoluted.

Idyllic was produced by Amsterdam-based Studio Ruba together with Belgium’s Polar Bear and Estonia’s Allfilm. Danish outfit LevelK is selling the feature worldwide.

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