Logline

Thomas has the habit to follow the life of his ex-wife Els. Secretly Thomas is responsible for a tragic event considering her new boyfriend, which strangely leads to Els and Thomas reuniting. Thomas has to face the struggle between living a life of staged happiness or to be open about his past and bear the consequences.

Synopsis (100 min.)

One year ago 43-year-old Thomas was left by his wife Els (37). She still lives in their home and sleeps in the bed they shared for 14 years. It seems like Thomas accustomed himself quite swift to this new situation considering his new girlfriend. But in fact Thomas cannot get rid of his ex-wife and the live they led. He found a way to cope with this.

Every morning before he goes to work, he parks his car in front of Els’ home. When she’s on her way to work, he opens the door of his old house with a spare key. Calmly he takes a shower, strolls around the living room, smokes a cigarette in the garden or waters the plants. After he cleans everything and he leaves for his work as a medical eye photographer in a local hospital.

Everything changes when Thomas meets Els’ new love, a gym teacher who’s ten years younger then Thomas.
Thomas starts to following the guy aswell. The more Thomas knows about him, the more Thomas is influencing Els' life and that of her lover. How far does Thomas go with his peeping behaviour?

Director's statement

In this film I explore a certain paradox. We follow a guy who has the obsession to stalk his ex-wife. But is it really immoral to go into your exwife’s apartment while nobody is being harmed? Nobody knows, so who are we, the audience, to judge him. The film is a narrative about responsibilities, about immoral human behaviour that remain unnoticed and unpunished. Thomas knows at a certain point that he has been in the wrong, but since nobody discovers his secret he continues with his life as if nothing has happened. His weak personality leaves him unable to take lifechanging decisions which he hides by showing an unusual interest for others. I would like to explore cinematic conventions and expectations by refraining from always making clear the motivations of the characters. Suggestive story-telling, which allows the audience to draw their own conclusions. Our main character finds hapiness but can’t deal with his situation he is in because he will never be happy. In the end he hasn’t changed much but hopefully the viewer has. We feel sorry for him, we observe a tragic person who is unable to change himself.

Planning

Shooting period is planned for September 2012.
Language: Dutch.