''In Real Life'', released in the Netherlands as ', is a 2008 Dutch drama film that was written and directed by

Robert Jan Westdijk Robert Jan Westdijk (born 2 November 1964) is a Dutch film director. He was born in Utrecht. His 1995 directorial debut film, '' Little Sister'', won a Golden Calf for Best Feature Film. Filmography *'' Little Sister'' (1995, released in Dutch as ...

. The film had its premiere at the

Netherlands Film Festival The Netherlands Film Festival ( nl, Nederlands Film Festival) is an annual film festival, held in September and October of each year in the city of Utrecht. During the ten-day festival, Dutch film productions and co-productions are exhibited. Be ...

on 25 September 2008 and was released on DVD the following year. The film stars

Ramsey Nasr Ramsey Nasr (born 28 January 1974, Rotterdam) is a Dutch author and actor of mixed descent, half Palestinian, half Dutch. He was '' Dichter des Vaderlands'' (Poet of the Fatherland; an unofficial title for the Dutch poet laureate) between Januar ...

as a film director who decides to test his girlfriend's love for him. The movie's soundtrack was composed by

Michel Banabila Michel Banabila (born 14 April 1961 in Amsterdam, Netherlands) is a Dutch composer and sound artist. Banabila performed live in 2013 in the auditorium of the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, at the opening of the exhibition of Crops, an audiovisua ...

and

Eric Vloeimans Eric Vloeimans (; born 24 March 1963) is a Dutch musician, songwriter, and record producer. Biography Although he studied classical music as a child, he became interested in jazz at the Rotterdam Academy of Music. After graduating in 1988, he ...

, and features songs from their album '' VoizNoiz 3 – Urban Jazz Scapes''.

Synopsis

Director Martin is in a relationship with his girlfriend Simone, who is also his co-star in a film he's making, ''Real Life''. Inside this film, Simone is playing a character whose boyfriend Milan (played by Martin) has decided to test her love for him. For the test, Simone must try to fall in love with another man. If, after this point, she decides that she's truly in love with Milan, he will consider her love genuine. Outside of the film, Martin casts Fjodor as the love interest for the fictional Simone, only for the two to continually butt heads over Martin's directorial style (which greatly resembles

method acting Method acting, informally known as The Method, is a range of training and rehearsal techniques, as formulated by a number of different theatre practitioners, that seeks to encourage sincere and expressive performances through identifying with, u ...

), forcing Martin to drop the actor. He then casts the recently separated Dirk in Fjodor's role, and this seems to be a good fit. Things grow complicated when Dirk begins to fall for the real Simone, who initially only responds to him in order to elicit genuine emotions for the film. However, as filming progresses Simone begins to actually respond to and grow closer to her co-star. These confusing emotions are not helped by Martin, whose directorial style blurs the lines between reality and fiction.

Cast

Sallie Harmsen Sallie Harmsen (born May 2, 1989) is a Dutch actress having had roles in '' In Real Life'' for which she won Golden Calf for Best Actress at the Netherlands Film Festival 2008. Harmsen appeared in ''De Geheimen van Barslet'' Golden Calf for Best A ...

as Simone *

as Milan - Martin * Loek Peters as Dirk *

Oren Schrijver Oren ( he, אורן) is a masculine given name, meaning 'pine' or 'ash' in Hebrew. In the Book of Chronicles, Oren is one of the sons of Jerahmeel, the first-born of Hezron, along with Ram, Bunah, Ozem and Ahijah. Oren, as a given name or surna ...

as Fjodor *

Mike Libanon Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documen ...

as Luc *

Loes Haverkort Loes Haverkort (born 1981) is a Dutch actress. She has performed in movies, television shows and theaters. Career Haverkort did her acting course at the Maastricht Academy of Dramatic Arts. She has performed in the musical Soldier of Orange an ...

as Loes * Ergun Simsek as Arif * Zoe Stork as Tjaltje *

Anne-Marie Jung Anne-Marie Rose Nicholson (born 7 April 1991) is an English singer. She has attained charting singles on the UK Singles Chart, including Clean Bandit's " Rockabye", which peaked at number one, as well as "Alarm", "Ciao Adios", "Friends", "2002 ...

as Angelique * Poal Cairo as Jules * Marcel De Hoogd as Buurman

Reception

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' gave ''In Real Life'' a favorable review but also wrote that the "Pic will click at fests, but lacks that Charlie Kaufman-like touch that could persuade Euro distribs to sign on the dotted line." The Dutch newspaper ''

NRC Handelsblad ''NRC'', previously called ''NRC Handelsblad'' (), is a daily morning newspaper published in the Netherlands by NRC Media. It is generally accepted as a newspaper of record in the Netherlands. History ''NRC Handelsblad'' was first published on 1 ...

'' criticized Westdijk for not taking the film seriously enough and stated that the film lacked rhythm. They also expressed disappointment in the film, given Westdijk's prior filmmaking efforts and the fact that it was the opening film for the

. A review from NU.nl expressed the same concerns, as they thought that the film was nice but also believed that Westdijk could have accomplished more.

Awards

Golden Calf According to the Bible, the golden calf (עֵגֶל הַזָּהָב '' ‘ēgel hazzāhāv'') was an idol (a cult image) made by the Israelites when Moses went up to Mount Sinai. In Hebrew, the incident is known as ''ḥēṭə’ hā‘ēgel'' ...

for Best Editing (2008, won) * Golden Calf for Best Camera (2008, won)

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 1087453 2008 films Golden Calf winners Dutch drama films 2008 drama films 2000s Dutch-language films