Goodbye

When the happily married Jan and a young teacher named Laura meet for the first time at a skating rink in Amsterdam, no words are needed to convey what is going on between the two of them. They feel an unmistakable, acute, inescapable attraction that leads to an overwhelming, impossible affair. Time and again the couple tries to reason their way out and separate, but they don’t succeed. They experience euphoric highs, but above all many desperate lows within the relationship, causing detriment for all involved. This fiction film dissects the situation in an almost documentary fashion, in scenes that reveal all the painful details that are symptomatic of an extramarital affair. The secret telephone calls and the lies, the discussions that tail off when questions aren't answered satisfactorily, the untamable passion that goes hand-in-hand with despair, the guilt and the rage. The strong physical acting by both leads stands out in this film, for which actress Johanna ter Steege won an award at the Locarno Film Festival. Director Heddy Honigmann was awarded the Dutch Film Critics’ Award at the Netherlands Film Festival and was a hit in Dutch cinemas.