Martin van Waardenberg is a Dutch comedian, who has been working well in recent years as an actor and even as a director. For example, with his latest film Ome Cor, van Waardenberg played the leading role and directed the film himself. In De Terugreis we also see Leny Breederveld, who also played together with van Waardenberg in Ome Cor. Breederveld is perhaps best known as Judge Helma from the successful television series The Lice Mother. The direction is in the hands of Jelle de Jonge who has already worked with both. De Jonge wrote the story together with Marijn de Wit, where both actually make their writers' debut. Only de Wit wrote something with the short Wes from 2009 before, but we can't really count that when it comes to a full feature film. Anyway, that must be fine with someone like van Waardenberg in your film, of course.
The story is about a couple who have stuck in the past. Jaap in particular has trouble keeping up with his time. If one day he receives a letter from Luis from Spain that he is dying, his wife Maartje wants to travel to Spain immediately, but Jaap doesn't feel like it at all. Maartje is starting to have dementia, only Jaap doesn't want to see that. Where one might expect a thoroughbred comedy, De Terugreis is certainly not. Although there is humor in the film here and there, De Terugreis has become a drama film about aging and how to deal with dementia. At first, Jaap blames Maartje for doing certain things on purpose to snar him. You would think that Jaap is a short-sighted lamlul, but it soon becomes quite clear that Jaap is full of fear and does not know how to deal with the situation and the woman he has been with for 42 years.
Jaap has also been afraid of driving in the car for years and if Jaap decides to travel to Spain anyway in his more than 30-year-old car, he has to defy the speed of the highways. Of course this does not go as he had hoped, which brings with it a number of comical situations. When they eventually drive through France, they get to places where they used to be, but which have completely changed. This is assisted by beautiful images of the French landscape, but we have seen that more often in films of course, take the film Take Me with you from last year. The Return Journey is another film of course and also has a more serious undertone. It is mainly the chemistry between van Waardenberg and Breederveld that really show that they can act very well.
De Terugreis manages to move the viewer with a smile and a tear. What is clever is that the film does not choose the easy way. It's a drama about dealing with a woman with dementia, where the partner doesn't know how to deal with that. Jaap is stuck to routine and the past, and looking outside the news to want Jaap to have as little to do with the outside world as possible. Once on a trip, it takes the two life partners past the most beautiful places and they pass changed places that they have visited in the past on their trip to Spain. The chemistry between Martin van Waardenberg and Leny Breederveld is insanely good and will not leave you as a viewer untouched. One thing is certain and that is that De Terugreis will be difficult to beat for the Dutch films to come this year.
