Blind

Ruben (Joren Seldeslachts) and Marie (Halina Reijn) are both imperfect. Ruben is blind, Marie ugly, according to the prevailing standards. They find each other when Ruben's mother (Katelijne Verbeke) appoints Marie to read to her son. Their mutual affection, which is purely based on feeling, stirs jealousy in Ruben's mother, so she is glad to hear that surgery can give her son his eyesight back. Marie disappears, afraid to be rejected because of her looks. The film, directed by Tamar van den Dop, is largely set in a snow-clad country estate, which the albino Marie almost dissolves in. The house is always cloaked in twilight; the colours are pallid, except in Ruben's imagination. The music, written by Tom Holkenborg, sustains the melancholy character of this harrowing fairytale.