You may justifiably call the TV Series "De kleine waarheid" (The little truth) Dutch cultural heritage. First of all, the script bases on a trilogy by Jan Mens, who between 1930-1960 was a popular Dutch writer. Second, the story is located in Amsterdam, always worth a peek. Be ware, most of the scenes are recorded in a studio. Third, it is a nice sketch of the first half of the past century, including two world wars. Fourth, the main character Marleen is played by Willeke Alberti, the youngest descendant from a well-known Dutch singer family. In addition the size of the production makes it monumental: 26 episodes of 45 minutes each. And I have seen them all! Twofold! Curious? Read on! The story narrates the life of a girl from a family of servants, whose forward character brings her into the upper middle-classes. Many scenes play in the impoverished artistic circles, that have settled in the proletarian quarters. Don't expect any shocking or exciting moments. Even the attempted rape of our heroine in her first job as a house maid fails miserably. To be fair, there is one suicide. The merit of the series should be found in the character studies, and in 1200 minutes you can study a lot. Soap is probably the technical term. The central theme is probably the infertility of Jan, Marleens husband. Here it comes, so prick your ears! Since Marleen has a truly existential need for children, the situation jeopardizes the marriage. She dives into a short and almost pre-arranged affair with an artist, just to get pregnant. This causes problems. They start weeny, but in the end become enormous. Her secret becomes a public knowledge, although Marleen always denies it. She endures pricks of conscience. Jan gradually relapses under the situation. His physical "inadequateness" breaks his frail backbone. So be ware. The dick suffers from hyperventilation, develops gall stones, and eventually dies after the operation for their removal. It is a bitter parable of the childbirth. Or do I see things that are not there? Furthermore, is this marriage itself a lie? Evidently the balance is missing, which I attribute to Marleens bossy character. She loves to dicker. Surprisingly this topic, although gigantic, covers only the episodes 8-20. So yes, in quite some episodes the story seems to ramble and drags on. It seems drivel. Perhaps the fun here is the account of the Dutch whereabouts and the intricacies of its then social multi-layer pyramid. The series, a produce of the seventies, obviously explores the sentimental and nostalgic feelings of the then adult viewers. It (he? Willy van Hemert) adheres to the spirit of the age. Its appeal does not withstand the ravages of time, and may bore the younger generations. Again, be ware. A browse through the reviews is indeed telling. And what about those character studies? Marleens father is an Archie Bunker type, but with fits of real rage. For a cynic his can be fun. He dies young during a sequence of hearth strokes, while grousing about the belated physician. Marleens brother starts as a retarded child, but later develops into a gifted and self-confident sculptor. It is a mental miracle. In the last episode he discloses his autistic disposition. He certainly fooled me with that. Marleen herself is abandoned twice by her two first lover(s), and since then develops a special liking for older men. The dickens, this is psychology, perhaps even Freud! There are wise life lessons to be learned here. However, to be sure perhaps I should watch again (just kidding). In 1970 I saw the series for the first time, but as a child could not sense its depth. In fact, I forgot everything - so much for the human memory - except for the later agony and lamenting of the child-donating artist. Having said that, he may be merely teasing. Could well be. With De kleine waarheid you get what you put into it. So if you have plenty of time, and like being a dick, an Adrian Monk ... grab your chance. The subtitles are lacking.
2 Reviews
Willeke's little white lie
Chip_douglas25 June 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Successful and well remembered TV adaption of Jan Mens' trilogy of novels detailing the life of Marleen Spaargaren (singer Willeke Alberti in her acting debut). Surrounded by the best of Dutch (theater) talent available at the time, Willeke effortlessly holds her own in the acting department, and of course performs all the songs Marleen 'makes up in her own mind' by way of some sort of inner-monologue. Set in Amsterdam, the story begins at the start of the 20th Century and ends during World War Two. Over the course of 26 episode, we see Willeke play Marleen from about the ages 15 to 45, and although apart from a Grey wig here and there, the actors change very little, this hardly matters as the characters are extremely well drawn.
Young Marleen takes a job as a maid after the birth of her baby brother Eppo, who is soon diagnosed as being 'a bit slow'. The first couple of episodes revolve around her working for several different households and showing a remarkable strong will and cleverness (without the benefit of an education). Although some of these early installments may seem episodic, nearly every supporting character returns to play a significant part later on in the story, usually in an unexpected way. Between the episodes there is often a jump in time (very 'I Clavdivs'). However this gets progressively shorter once Marleen meets and settles down with the love of her life, antique repairman (which was Jan Mens' profession before he took up writing) Jan Engelmoer (John Leddy).
Marleen and Jan open a marginally successful antique and curiosity shop, and only pray for one more thing in life: a child. Meanwhile Eppo (for the most part played by Hans Hoekman) is becoming a burden to his depressed father (Jacques Commandeur) and long suffering mother (Emmy Lopez-Dias). That is until Engelmoer discovers the boy has an artistic streak. Eventually, Eppo is taken under the wing of the loudmouth, frivolous sculptor Jos Boswinkel (Coen Flink). Marleen also turns to Boswinkel when she learns her husband is infertile. Not out of love, but to be able to raise a child with Jan Engelmoer. And so it is not until the series is more than halfway through that we understand exactly what the Little White Lie (De Kleine Waarheid) means.
This drama was filmed and performed like a stage play: very long scenes of two or three people talking to each other make up each hour long episode (with only the occasional voice-over song as an interlude). Director Willy van Hemert was an expert as this kind of thing and knew exactly when to zoom in on a detail or gesture. Because the takes were so long, they obviously tried to get it right the first try. This means there are quite a few slips of the tongue left in the production, which to me makes the acting even more real, like they are actually making up the words at the time. Often you can see the focus puller reacting a tad to slow when Van Hemert decides to put in one of those famous zooms, and even this helps add to the realism of it all. Of course people accustomed to MTV editing probably will have great trouble sitting through an entire episode (it took me a while to settle into it myself), for this production was truly made in another century.
Once you except the old fashioned pace, however, you soon realize why this series was so popular at the time. By the time WWII starts, you really feel you know Marleen and her extended family and friends (with Eppo especially going through an impressive story arc). You never know who's familiar face might pop up next (including some actors I previously only knew from doing voice work). Finally Tamar Baruch, the Little White Truth herself, must be singled out for being probably the most natural child actress Holland ever produced. As Marleen's daughter Suzan, she lights up every scene she's in and, like TV mom Willeke does not flinch in the company of some of Holland's best thespians.
9 out of 10
Young Marleen takes a job as a maid after the birth of her baby brother Eppo, who is soon diagnosed as being 'a bit slow'. The first couple of episodes revolve around her working for several different households and showing a remarkable strong will and cleverness (without the benefit of an education). Although some of these early installments may seem episodic, nearly every supporting character returns to play a significant part later on in the story, usually in an unexpected way. Between the episodes there is often a jump in time (very 'I Clavdivs'). However this gets progressively shorter once Marleen meets and settles down with the love of her life, antique repairman (which was Jan Mens' profession before he took up writing) Jan Engelmoer (John Leddy).
Marleen and Jan open a marginally successful antique and curiosity shop, and only pray for one more thing in life: a child. Meanwhile Eppo (for the most part played by Hans Hoekman) is becoming a burden to his depressed father (Jacques Commandeur) and long suffering mother (Emmy Lopez-Dias). That is until Engelmoer discovers the boy has an artistic streak. Eventually, Eppo is taken under the wing of the loudmouth, frivolous sculptor Jos Boswinkel (Coen Flink). Marleen also turns to Boswinkel when she learns her husband is infertile. Not out of love, but to be able to raise a child with Jan Engelmoer. And so it is not until the series is more than halfway through that we understand exactly what the Little White Lie (De Kleine Waarheid) means.
This drama was filmed and performed like a stage play: very long scenes of two or three people talking to each other make up each hour long episode (with only the occasional voice-over song as an interlude). Director Willy van Hemert was an expert as this kind of thing and knew exactly when to zoom in on a detail or gesture. Because the takes were so long, they obviously tried to get it right the first try. This means there are quite a few slips of the tongue left in the production, which to me makes the acting even more real, like they are actually making up the words at the time. Often you can see the focus puller reacting a tad to slow when Van Hemert decides to put in one of those famous zooms, and even this helps add to the realism of it all. Of course people accustomed to MTV editing probably will have great trouble sitting through an entire episode (it took me a while to settle into it myself), for this production was truly made in another century.
Once you except the old fashioned pace, however, you soon realize why this series was so popular at the time. By the time WWII starts, you really feel you know Marleen and her extended family and friends (with Eppo especially going through an impressive story arc). You never know who's familiar face might pop up next (including some actors I previously only knew from doing voice work). Finally Tamar Baruch, the Little White Truth herself, must be singled out for being probably the most natural child actress Holland ever produced. As Marleen's daughter Suzan, she lights up every scene she's in and, like TV mom Willeke does not flinch in the company of some of Holland's best thespians.
9 out of 10
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