When Kelly is released from prison, her sister Samantha tries hard to keep her on the right track. But then Kelly’s ex-boyfriend Eddy gets back into her life.

After The hidden force, Ivo van Hove made a second adaptation of a novel by Couperus: The things that pass, this time a coproduction with Toneelhuis (Antwerp).

Directing The hidden force, Ivo van Hove got rid of the image that had been stuck to Couperus since the 1970s. Not a costume drama in The Hague, no tempo dulu (the good old days). But he did get straight to the core of this visionary novel: the culture of the west, irreconcilable with that of the east.



The second project is based on the majestic psychological novel Old people and the things that pass (1906). Couperus imagined an ‘appalling and dreadful tragedy’. We see how a hushed-up murder of passion in the Dutch East Indies continues to have a devastating influence on the family of the elderly Ottilie and Takma. The hushing up of their adulterous relationship and the murder of Ottilie’s husband leave deep traces in the consecutive generations, who are trapped in an unresolved past.

Lot and Elly are the youngest members of this doomed family. They hope to be able to free themselves from the stranglehold of The Hague, but arrive back home disillusioned after their honeymoon in Italy. There is no escaping this family that is damaged by horrible secrets that should never become known.

Just like in The hidden force, Couperus shows that he is far ahead of his time. He paints the portrait of a modern family that does not cohere and is literally spread out to all the corners of the world. The family members struggle with their lustfulness, their faith, dreams of material happiness and mutual jealousy. A family where almost nobody dares to give in to their deepest wishes and desires, to be who they really are.

Betriek lives at the edge of a peat bog in the North of the Netherlands. When she and her family are attacked by a random stranger one night, Betriek sets out to find an explanation. The more she digs, the more she becomes convinced that she is being hunted by something ancient.

Some people find her removed from reality. Her older sister Katia even thinks she's stupid. But this is only a first impression, perhaps the result of her subconscious desire to remain a child. Or perhaps, her strange behavior is a defense against the uninspiring life she leads, a cruel existence shared with her sister and mother. Having emigrated from Russia some years previously, her mother tries to build up a life in Amsterdam and is drawn into the world of prostitution. Slowly, oldest daughter Katia follows her mother into the same obscure world. Our heroine, Katia's Sister, adores her older beautiful sister Katia, but she is getting more and more lonely, having nobody to share her feelings with. Although her surroundings are harsh, she does not judge. She continues to see the world in an unconditional and even loving manner. Despite her non-judgmental attitude, she becomes increasingly isolated, creating her own protective universe in which she sacrifices a lot, even her own name, referring to herself only as "Katia's Sister."

《宝贵时光》由达恩·巴克克编剧执导，影片有五个主人公，分别讲述了五个故事。五个独立的故事虽显示出不同的风格，但在视觉上有很强的联系。达恩·巴克克通过《宝贵时光》传达出我们需要在这个复杂的社会中找到属于自己的天地的理念。 柯恩在其生病之前，每次家庭聚会时都会表现出对火腿和牛奶的喜爱；业余摄影师斯特凡在记录自己童年记忆时出现了一系列尴尬局面；谢尔通过时间旅行回到童年来改变提升自我价值；查尔斯在自己青年时代被外星人绑架，回到父母身边时身体已经发生了变异；当杰夫打算面见未来岳父岳母并给他们留下好印象时，他的偏执症却不巧地发作，进而打破了自己的计划。