De Storm

Julia, an 18-year-old farmer's daughter from Zeeland, gets pregnant from her boyfriend Koos, a fisherman's son who is so startled by the news that he does a moonlight flit. Julia is left to her own devices in a hostile village. Initially, the pregnancy and delivery are condemned and later ignored by her family and fellow villagers. In the night of 31 January 1953, the dikes in Zeeland burst during a terrible February storm. The farm where Julia lives is engulfed by a deluge. She and her son end up in the water and - against her will - she is saved by the young air force sergeant Aldo. The baby is left behind in the water. Julia is inconsolable and Aldo decides to help her find her son. It is the beginning of a long search that will eventually take them back to Zeeland and a submerged, surrealist landscape. The chance a baby will survive here is microscopic. And yet Julia receives clues that her son is still alive.