Bride Flight

Editor's Note At the time of its production and release, BRIDE FLIGHT reportedly checked in as one of the most lavish and expensive Dutch-language features ever made. The title of this epic tale refers, quite literally, to a period airplane flight transporting new brides from Holland to New Zealand, where they plan to meet their intendeds. Karina Smulders, Elise Schaap, Anna Drijver star, respectively, as quiet and backward yet sensual farm girl Ada; über-content homemaker-to-be Marjorie; and highly vocal, self-confident, Jewish fashion designer Esther. As the tale opens, it is the mid-'50s; the three women share the same flight, and instantly forge a fast friendship, thanks in no small part to their shared amorous advances from Frank (Waldemar Torenstra), a cowboy-cum-adventurer also on the plane. Upon their arrival, Frank and Ada fall deeply in love, but Ada's marriage to Derk (Micha Hulshof), a devout Christian who lives with her in a converted World War II bunker, severely complicates this. Meanwhile, Esther and Marjorie encounter their own problems; one winds up pregnant by an unknown progenitor, while the other discovers her own infertility. After following these stories for a time, the tale flashes forward to the present day, where the women re-encounter one another at the funeral of Frank (played in middle age by Rutger Hauer). Problems arise when Esther witnesses Marjorie (Petra Laseur) accompanying her son, Bob (Marc Klein Essink) -- thus underscoring the film's thematic meditation on the unshakable connection between present and past.

	Petra Laseur
	Waldemar Torenstra
	Karina Smulders
	Willeke Van Ammelrooy
	Pleuni Touw
	Elise Schaap
	Anna Drijver
	Marc Klein-Essink - Co-Star
	Micha Hulshof - Co-Star
	Marieke vanDerPol - Screenwriter
	Peter Flamman - Sound
	Piotr Kukla - Director of Photography
	Jeannot Sanavia - Composer
	Winnie Gallis - Hairstylist
	Winnie Gallis - Makeup
	Dick Naastepad - Hairstylist
	Dick Naastepad - Makeup
	Ross Fraser - Story
	Pia Dumont - Sound
	Wart Warmsteker - Sound
	Ben Sombogaart - Director

Hollywood Reporter
"[T]he emotional dynamics of the film directed by Ben Sombogaart are admirably restrained....Fueling the power of the central love story are highly appealing performances by the two leads." 06/10/2011