The Family

Summary

The Family was originally a theatrical experiment - a serial play in four parts, each the length of a full performance.

The author, Louis de Boer, also wrote the film script and directed The Family himself, using the same actors as he had done on stage. And yet the resulting film version is not simply the record of a happening in the theatre. There are three members of The Family: the domineering Doc, the highly neurotic brother Kil and Gina, their dumb sister and the darling of the family.

These three, given the cold shoulder by society, resist all attempts to penetrate their microcosm, a slum which is due to demolition. Anyone who does venture in will either be swallowed whole or, if they escape, will never be the same again. The drama hinges on these intruders, but this does not exclude some crazy fun. Farce and irony, excitement, satire and heavy melodrama, a sense of alienation and touches of Pinter follow one another in rapid succession. The film ends in an orgy of violence, at which point it oversteps the bounds of reality.