What You Expect From the World Behind You or: Verwar de staat waarin u verkeert

It is difficult to describe the films of Jan Willem van Dam. That is probably the reason for the long title, which nevertheless does come close. But we can also listen to the film maker who, some time halfway through the film, when asked what he’s doing behind the camera, answers: `I’m making a documentary about the natural situation’. And yes, there are indeed beautiful scenes we can describe as documentary in the film: the way a dog looks in the morning cold, exhausted after a night barking at the stars. Or an interview in which the son of a restaurant owner describes how Mrs Tarkovsky (Nostalgia was shot there) kissed him on the mouth as a little boy -quite normal in Siberia, he knows. And is that really Tarkovsky’s deserted house we see? But there are also scenes that should rather be described as fiction: the camera slowly floats downstream, along the river where the two sisters who play the leading roles (or form an object of investigation?) are spending their holiday. What You Expect… is the report of the Italian adventures of Manon and Madou Engels, on holiday in Tuscany. The film (maker) wonders whether these encounters will lead to a justification of the efforts. What connotations do they make in their quest for profundity abroad? The same applies to the viewer, in the cinema. Or: where does that irrational urge come from to make art?