''Borgman'' is a 2013 Dutch

psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a genre combining the thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting. In terms of context and co ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Alex van Warmerdam Alex van Warmerdam (born 14 August 1952) is a Dutch screenwriter, film director, and actor. He is also a painter. Life and career Van Warmerdam was born in Haarlem, a city in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands. He was cofounder of ...

. It was nominated for the

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

at the

2013 Cannes Film Festival The 66th Cannes Film Festival took place in Cannes, France, from 15 to 26 May 2013. Steven Spielberg was the head of the jury for the main competition. New Zealand film director Jane Campion was the head of the jury for the Cinéfondation and S ...

. It was screened in the Vanguard section at the

2013 Toronto International Film Festival The 38th annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) took place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 5 and 15, 2013. '' The Fifth Estate'' was selected as the opening film and '' Life of Crime'' was the closing film. 75 films were ...

. The film was selected as the Dutch entry for the

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

at the

86th Academy Awards The 86th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2013 and took place on March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. ...

, but it was not nominated.

Plot

An armed priest, together with two other men, drive a

hobo A hobo is a migrant worker in the United States. Hoboes, tramps and bums are generally regarded as related, but distinct: a hobo travels and is willing to work; a tramp travels, but avoids work if possible; and a bum neither travels nor works. E ...

and his companions from their underground hideouts. The hobo, identifying himself as Anton, then appears at the door of a mansion. There, he encounters Richard and Marina, an upper-class married couple with three children. He claims he knows Marina, that she had nursed him in hospital, and demands food and a bath. Due to his aggressive behaviour, Richard gets angry and violently beats him. However, Marina, driven by guilt and curiosity, decides to help him and allows him to stay in the garden shed, without Richard knowing it. During Richard's absence, Anton apparently befriends Marina and all three children. He has the ability to control Marina's dreams, so she starts to despise her husband while starting to like Anton. One day Anton leaves the family and meets his mysterious team, Ludwig, Pascal, Brenda and Ilonka, who start a very sinister plot against the family. They poison the family gardener and strangle his wife, then return to the family. Now well-dressed and shaven, Anton identifies himself as Camiel Borgman and becomes the new gardener. He gets the guest room while his team settles in the garden shed, and they slowly take on roles in the life of the family. Soon it is revealed that Camiel and his team have the ability to control people, corrupting their minds or killing them in cold blood if deemed necessary. Camiel seduces Marina to the point that she wants Richard dead, while Pascal seduces the family babysitter Stine, causing her to become hostile towards her boyfriend. The team also takes the children into the hideout to perform some kind of surgery on them, causing them to be more comfortable with Camiel and his team than with their own parents. The team then poisons Richard. Marina, hoping to be with Camiel, is shocked when he calmly refuses her advances. He poisons her later, and both she and Richard are buried under the garden. Camiel, his team, Stine and the children then depart into the forest.

Cast

* as Camiel Borgman *

Hadewych Minis Hadewych Minis (born 5 January 1977) is a Dutch actress. She won the 2013 Golden Calf for Best Actress award for her performance as Marina in '' Borgman'' and was awarded the prestigious ''Theo d'Or'' prize for her solo performance in the Dutch ...

as Marina * as Richard *

as Ludwig * as Pascal * as Stine * Elve Lijbaart as Isolde * Dirkje van der Pijl as Rebecca * Pieter-Bas de Waard as Leo * as Ilonka *

Annet Malherbe Annet Malherbe (born 23 November 1957) is a Dutch actress. She is known for her roles in films directed by her husband Alex van Warmerdam, such as ''Voyeur'', ''The Northerners'', ''The Dress'', '' Little Tony'' and ''Grimm''. Malherbe was nominat ...

as Brenda

References

External links

* -

Drafthouse Films Drafthouse Films is a film distribution company based in Austin, Texas which releases "provocative, visionary and artfully unusual films new and old from around the world". It was founded in 2010 by Tim League, who had previously founded the Ala ...

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Borgman 2013 films 2013 psychological thriller films Dutch thriller films 2010s Dutch-language films Films directed by Alex van Warmerdam

Plot

Cast

See also

References

External links