Nouchka van Brakel
Encyclopedia
Nouchka van Brakel is a Dutch film director known for her 1982 movie Van de koele meren des doods
. That movie, and a movie about Eve
(1979) and a documentary about Mary
, established her as an important Dutch feminist film director. Van Brakel said that her ambition is to make movies about women who want to change their lives and their societies.
, she became the first woman to attend the Netherlands Film and Television Academy
, which at the time was housed at Oude Hoogstraat 24, around the corner from her house in Amsterdam's Nieuwmarkt district
. She was the only student who owned a house, which quickly became a meeting place for student meetings as well as for Dolle Mina
, a feminist organization founded in 1970. In that time period she began making short political films using 16 mm film
; van Brakel credits this period with giving her the desire to make movies featuring strong female characters. Her graduating class included very successful future directors and cameramen, including Adriaan Ditvoorst
, Wim Verstappen
, Robby Müller
, and Jan de Bont
.
Van Brakel's second movie, Zwaarmoedige verhalen voor bij de centrale verwarming (1975), was produced by Matthijs van Heijningen
, who was responsible for launching the careers of a number of notable Dutch directors, including van Brakel. Her third movie, Een Vrouw als Eva
(A Woman Like Eve, 1979), starring Monique van de Ven
and Maria Schneider
as lesbian lovers, was a commercial success in the Netherlands, but the sexually explicit story of two women who fall in love at a feminist conference was not picked up in the United States, despite an enthusiastic endorsement by Shirley MacLaine
. Van de koele meren des doods
, another van Heijningen production (he produced a great number of adaptations of literary works) was a success, and established her reputation. After 1987's Een maand later, her career seemed to falter.
Her 1995 movie on Aletta Jacobs
, Aletta Jacobs: Het Hoogste Streven
, features the filmmaker herself as interviewing Jacobs's contemporaries. The movie was criticized for "imposing a Jewish atmosphere on the [Jacobs] family, for which there is no actual evidence." Her 2001 film De vriendschap, with a set of elderly main characters, focused on male friendship and female sexuality, but the film was a critical and commercial failure, which strongly affected her. She considered leaving the industry altogether, but returned in 2006 with a documentary on Mary; years before she had gotten fascinated with Mary, who in her estimation seemed unhappy in many depictions of the annunciation
. She began collecting reproductions of paintings, many of which are shown in the 2006 documentary Ave Maria; Mary, she says, was an independent and educated woman who is politically important as well.
and Chantal Akerman
; Een vrouw als Eva (1979) is mentioned as one of the female-directed movies that offer "very affirmative images of lesbianism". A recurring theme in her films is that of "women who break out of society's conventions and want something 'controversial'". Her documentary work includes "various topics of feminist interest, such as children's education and the training of midwives", a study of the Virgin Mary, and the physical and social effects of aging.
Van de koele meren des doods (film)
Van de koele meren des doods is a Dutch film from 1982, directed by Nouchka van Brakel and based on the same-named novel by Frederik van Eeden. Book and film give an account of a bourgeois woman who struggles with her sexuality. The film is known internationally as Hedwig: The Quiet Lakes and The...
. That movie, and a movie about Eve
Eve
Eve is the first woman created by God in the Book of Genesis.Eve may also refer to:-People:*Eve , a common given name and surname*Eve , American recording artist and actress-Places:...
(1979) and a documentary about Mary
Mary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
, established her as an important Dutch feminist film director. Van Brakel said that her ambition is to make movies about women who want to change their lives and their societies.
Career
Nouchka van Brakel was born in a socialist family which lived a fairly bohemian lifestyle: her mother was a singer and her father was a jazz musician, and they lived in Turkey for two years. She went to high school in Bilthoven, living with her mother while her father was abroad. After studying drama in UtrechtUtrecht
Utrecht is a city in the Netherlands.The name may also refer to:* Utrecht , of which Utrecht is the capital* Utrecht , including the city of Utrecht* Bishopric of Utrecht* Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Utrecht...
, she became the first woman to attend the Netherlands Film and Television Academy
Netherlands Film and Television Academy
The Netherlands Film and Television Academy was founded in 1958.The academy is the only recognised institute in the Netherlands that offers training to prepare for the work in the various crew disciplines...
, which at the time was housed at Oude Hoogstraat 24, around the corner from her house in Amsterdam's Nieuwmarkt district
Nieuwmarkt
Nieuwmarkt is a square in the centre of the Dutch capital Amsterdam. The surrounding area is known as the Nieuwmarktbuurt ....
. She was the only student who owned a house, which quickly became a meeting place for student meetings as well as for Dolle Mina
Dolle Mina
Dolle Mina was a 1970s Dutch feminist group which campaigned for equal rights for women....
, a feminist organization founded in 1970. In that time period she began making short political films using 16 mm film
16 mm film
16 mm film refers to a popular, economical gauge of film used for motion pictures and non-theatrical film making. 16 mm refers to the width of the film...
; van Brakel credits this period with giving her the desire to make movies featuring strong female characters. Her graduating class included very successful future directors and cameramen, including Adriaan Ditvoorst
Adriaan Ditvoorst
Adriaan Ditvoorst was a Dutch film director and screenwriter. He directed nine films between 1965 and 1984. His 1967 film Paranoia was entered into the 17th Berlin International Film Festival.-Selected filmography:...
, Wim Verstappen
Wim Verstappen
Wim Verstappen was a Dutch film director and producer, television director, and screen writer.Verstappen grew up on Curaçao. He started at the Netherlands Film and Television Academy in 1961, and released his first movie in 1966, De minder gelukkige terugkeer van Joszef Katus naar het land van...
, Robby Müller
Robby Müller
Robby Müller is a cinematographer whose name is most often associated with film director Wim Wenders.-Life and work:...
, and Jan de Bont
Jan de Bont
Jan de Bont is a Dutch cinematographer, producer, and film director.-Early life and career:De Bont was born, one of 17 children, to a Roman Catholic family in Eindhoven, Netherlands. His earliest work after studying at the Amsterdam Film Academy was with the Dutch avant garde director Adriaan...
.
Van Brakel's second movie, Zwaarmoedige verhalen voor bij de centrale verwarming (1975), was produced by Matthijs van Heijningen
Matthijs van Heijningen
Matthijs van Heijningen is a Dutch film producer. He is one of the country's most successful producers, and became known for a series of commercial successes and for screen adaptations of literary works. His collection is now housed in the Filmmuseum.-External links:...
, who was responsible for launching the careers of a number of notable Dutch directors, including van Brakel. Her third movie, Een Vrouw als Eva
A Woman Like Eve
A Woman Like Eve is a 1979 Dutch film centered around a woman who leaves her husband for a lesbian relationship. The film was directed by Nouchka van Brakel; Monique van de Ven stars in the title role of Eve, with Peter Faber as her husband Ad and Maria Schneider as Liliane, who becomes Eve's lover...
(A Woman Like Eve, 1979), starring Monique van de Ven
Monique van de Ven
Monica Maria Theresia "Monique" van de Ven is a Dutch actress and director.From 1973 until 1988 she was married to Dutch cinematographer and director Jan de Bont, with whom she lived in Los Angeles for a number of years. She is now married to actor and writer Edwin de Vries.Her film debut as an...
and Maria Schneider
Maria Schneider (actress)
Maria Schneider was a French actress. She was best known for playing Jeanne, opposite Marlon Brando, in the 1972 film Last Tango in Paris.-Career:...
as lesbian lovers, was a commercial success in the Netherlands, but the sexually explicit story of two women who fall in love at a feminist conference was not picked up in the United States, despite an enthusiastic endorsement by Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine is an American film and theater actress, singer, dancer, activist and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career...
. Van de koele meren des doods
Van de koele meren des doods (film)
Van de koele meren des doods is a Dutch film from 1982, directed by Nouchka van Brakel and based on the same-named novel by Frederik van Eeden. Book and film give an account of a bourgeois woman who struggles with her sexuality. The film is known internationally as Hedwig: The Quiet Lakes and The...
, another van Heijningen production (he produced a great number of adaptations of literary works) was a success, and established her reputation. After 1987's Een maand later, her career seemed to falter.
Her 1995 movie on Aletta Jacobs
Aletta Jacobs
Aletta Henriëtte Jacobs, better known as Aletta Jacobs was the first woman to complete a university course in the Netherlands and the first female physician. She was born to a Jewish doctor's family in Sappemeer...
, Aletta Jacobs: Het Hoogste Streven
Aletta Jacobs: Het Hoogste Streven
Aletta Jacobs: Het Hoogste Streven is a 1995 Dutch documentary film directed by Nouchka van Brakel.-Cast:*Luutgard Willems ... Aletta Jacobs*Hans Kesting ... C.V. Gerritsen*Max Arian ... Vader Jacobs*Catherine ten Bruggencate ... Moeder Jacobs...
, features the filmmaker herself as interviewing Jacobs's contemporaries. The movie was criticized for "imposing a Jewish atmosphere on the [Jacobs] family, for which there is no actual evidence." Her 2001 film De vriendschap, with a set of elderly main characters, focused on male friendship and female sexuality, but the film was a critical and commercial failure, which strongly affected her. She considered leaving the industry altogether, but returned in 2006 with a documentary on Mary; years before she had gotten fascinated with Mary, who in her estimation seemed unhappy in many depictions of the annunciation
Annunciation
The Annunciation, also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary or Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the announcement by the angel Gabriel to Virgin Mary, that she would conceive and become the mother of Jesus the Son of God. Gabriel told Mary to name her...
. She began collecting reproductions of paintings, many of which are shown in the 2006 documentary Ave Maria; Mary, she says, was an independent and educated woman who is politically important as well.
Feminism
Van Brakel's first four major movies (from Het Debuut to Een maand later) all centered on women and their clashes with the outside world. She is listed among a number of European women filmmakers who benefited from the feminist wave of the 1960s and 1970s and entered a previously male-dominated domain, including Mai ZetterlingMai Zetterling
-Early life:Zetterling was born in Västerås, Västmanland, Sweden to a working class family. She started her career as an actress by the age of seventeen at Dramaten, the Swedish national theater, and appeared in war-era film starting in her teens.-Career:...
and Chantal Akerman
Chantal Akerman
Chantal Anne Akerman is a Belgian film director, artist, and professor of film at the European Graduate School. Akerman's best-known film, Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles , exemplifies a dedication to the ellipses of conventional narrative cinema.-Early life:Akerman was born to...
; Een vrouw als Eva (1979) is mentioned as one of the female-directed movies that offer "very affirmative images of lesbianism". A recurring theme in her films is that of "women who break out of society's conventions and want something 'controversial'". Her documentary work includes "various topics of feminist interest, such as children's education and the training of midwives", a study of the Virgin Mary, and the physical and social effects of aging.
Filmography
- Ave Maria. Van Dienstmaagd des Heren tot Koningin van de Hemel (documentary, 2006, co-produced with the KRO)
- De vriendschapDe VriendschapDe Vriendschap is a 2000 Dutch film directed by ....
(2001) - Aletta Jacobs: Het Hoogste StrevenAletta Jacobs: Het Hoogste StrevenAletta Jacobs: Het Hoogste Streven is a 1995 Dutch documentary film directed by Nouchka van Brakel.-Cast:*Luutgard Willems ... Aletta Jacobs*Hans Kesting ... C.V. Gerritsen*Max Arian ... Vader Jacobs*Catherine ten Bruggencate ... Moeder Jacobs...
(1995) - Een maand later (1987)
- Van de koele meren des doodsVan de koele meren des doods (film)Van de koele meren des doods is a Dutch film from 1982, directed by Nouchka van Brakel and based on the same-named novel by Frederik van Eeden. Book and film give an account of a bourgeois woman who struggles with her sexuality. The film is known internationally as Hedwig: The Quiet Lakes and The...
(1982) - Een vrouw als EvaA Woman Like EveA Woman Like Eve is a 1979 Dutch film centered around a woman who leaves her husband for a lesbian relationship. The film was directed by Nouchka van Brakel; Monique van de Ven stars in the title role of Eve, with Peter Faber as her husband Ad and Maria Schneider as Liliane, who becomes Eve's lover...
(A Woman Like Eve, 1979) - Het debuut (1977)
- Zwaarmoedige verhalen voor bij de centrale verwarming (1975)
- Ouder Worden (Aging, 1975)
- Sabotage (1966 (short film)