Films: Time to Spare

Time to Spare
Alle tijd

Netherlands, 2011, 100 Minute Running Time
Genre/Subjects: Comedy, Drama, Gay/Lesbian, GLBT, Romance
Programs: Cinema Q, Contemporary World Cinema
Language: Dutch English Subtitles

DIRECTOR: Job Gosschalk
Producer: Alain de Levita, Job Gosschalk
Screenwriter: Job Gosschalk
Principal Cast: Paul de Leeuw, Karina Smulders, Teun Luijkx, Lineke Rijxman

This tragicomedy of errors, skillfully wrought by Dutch writer-director Job Gosschalk, focuses on a pair of appealing siblings who remain devoted to each other even as they search individually for romantic love. Maarten (Paul de Leeuw) is a plump music teacher in his 40s whose superficial fussiness conceals a golden heart. Since their mother's early death, 26-year-old Molly (Karina Smulders) has been more daughter to Maarten than sister, so when she decides to leave the family home and move in with her self-absorbed actor-boyfriend, Tony, he's a bit put out. Enter handsome young Arthur, who quickly becomes the object of Maarten's ceaseless affection but who has all kinds of questions about his sexual identity. “Maarten used to dream that he lived in a man's pants,” Molly jokingly reveals. Arthur can't figure out where he should live. Neither can Molly's boyfriend, who cheats on her with a pretty actress, nor Molly herself, who is also drawn to a handsome veterinarian named Melvin. For the purposes of high-toned soap opera, the tableau is filled out by a loyal and knowing 50-year-old named Reina, Maarten's longtime best friend.

This witty and observant comedy takes a dark turn when Molly gets cancer. That she's also ambiguously pregnant (is the child Tony’s? Or Melvin’s?) further complicates the film's tangled issues. Displaying a rare understanding of family dynamics and the varieties of love, Gosschalk provides a tender and satisfying resolution steeped in grace.
—BILL GALLO

Sponsored by National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, One Colorado Educational Fund

In cooperation with The Center

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