What is it with Dutch films that they are almost never good? The backcover of this brandnew film was interesting enough to rent it, but my expectations were not made true. A rich man living in a mansion in the middle of the forest (and looking way too much like the late director Theo van Gogh) runs into a beautifull young gypsy girl named Lulu. He takes her in and the two get a passionate relationship. The film plays around a diner in which Leon (the rich man) invites his friends and relatives and the diner becomes a metaphore of Leon’s idea of the ‘friendship’ of everyone. Every time another guest is confronted with the fact that (s)he had something with Lulu too, so the film becomes one big flashback. The general story is quite like “Festen” (1998). The flashbacks do not make the film very interesting and the diner and events and rather dull. Of course (being a Dutch film this is almost a cliché) there is much nudity in the film, but nothing can raise the film above the level of dullness. I am sorry that I have to say that “Lulu” not only has an unoriginal title, an unoriginal setting, but also a far from interesting story. ‘Fortunately’ “Lulu” is only 75 minutes long. -1/5/06-
