''Waiter'' ( nl, Ober) is a 2006

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

film by Alex van Warmerdam. It tells the story of Edgar, a discontented waiter. The film had its world premiere on the

Toronto Film Festival Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anchor ...

on 10 September 2006. It was the opening film of the Netherlands Film Festival, where ''Waiter'' received two

Golden Calves 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 Scenario and Best Production Design. In January 2007 the film received a

Golden Film The Golden Film ( nl, Gouden Film) is a film award recognizing domestic box office achievements in the Netherlands. The Golden Film is awarded to films from the Netherlands once they have sold . The award is an initiative by the Netherlands Fil ...

. The film is about stagnation of creativity and a take on overbearing of elements in life, it also takes wryly a puck-shot at god and his relation with humans.

Plot

''Waiter'' tells the story of Edgar ( Alex van Warmerdam), a waiter with a flair for the unfortunate. His wife, Ilse (Sylvia Poorta) is sick is overly rude to him. Customers at work constantly bully him and his neighbors make his life impossible. Fed up with the way his life is going, Edgar goes to the house of Herman (Mark Rietman), the scriptwriter who invented Edgar and is currently writing his story. Edgar complains about the events in his life that keep getting worse and begs for some positive events in his life, including a decent girlfriend. Herman decides to create Stella (

Line Van Wambeke Line most often refers to: * Line (geometry), object with zero thickness and curvature that stretches to infinity * Telephone line, a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system Line, lines, The Line, or LINE may also refer to: Arts ...

), but soon Edgar realizes that Stella will only complicate his life more. Meanwhile Edgar is pestered by his pushy girlfriend Victoria (

Ariane Schluter Ariane Schluter (born 1 February 1966) is a Dutch actress. She is best known for playing in films by such Dutch filmmakers as Alex van Warmerdam and Theo van Gogh. Career Ariane Schluter studied at the Maastricht Academy of Dramatic Arts. Af ...

), who constantly tries to be with him. Driven to insanity by Herman and his obnoxious girlfriend Suzie (

Thekla Reuten Thekla Simona Gelsomina Reuten (born 16 September 1975) is a Dutch actress. Life and career Reuten was born in Bussum, Netherlands, the daughter of a Dutch father, Joost Reuten, and an Italian mother, who was born in Benabbio near Bagni di Lucc ...

), Edgar constantly tries to interfere with his story. Herman decides to make the story more extreme and violent and finally ends the story out of desperation with Edgar's death.

Awards

Golden Calf for Best Script The following is a list of winners of the Golden Calf for best script at the NFF. This category was awarded since 1999. * 2022 '' Do Not Hesitate'' - Jolein Laarman * 2021 '' The Judgement'' - Bert Bouma & Sander Burger * 2020 '' Romy's Salon'' - ...

(2006)Winnaars Gouden Kalveren 2006
Netherlands Film Festival, 2006. Retrieved on 8 October 2006. *

Golden Calf for Best Production Design {{No footnotes, date=March 2010 The following is a list of winners of the Golden Calf (award), Golden Calf for best Production Design at the Nederlands Film Festival. This category has been awarded since 2003. * 2022 in film, 2022 Masha Halberstad ...

(2006) *

(2007)

References

External links

* {{Alex van Warmerdam 2006 films 2006 black comedy films 2000s Dutch-language films 2000s English-language films Films directed by Alex van Warmerdam 2006 comedy films 2006 multilingual films Dutch multilingual films Dutch black comedy films English-language Dutch films