Elvie is an inquisitive young girl, who lives in a caravan with her intellectually disabled mother – a loving but naive woman who has difficulty understanding others. During one long summer Elvie’s life is about to change forever. Growing more mature, she starts to see and understand the world in a way her mother is incapable of.
Jan has been married to Gedda for 35 years. Gedda loves Jan so much that she smothers him: before he can grab a glass from the table, she has already given him one. She picks out his clothing, his friends, his vacations and all their other activities. In an attempt to get some space Jan concocts a strange plan that literally transforms his marriage into a locked ward. Their daughter finds herself in a similar predicament with her exacting and jealous boyfriend.
Johanna ter Steege is a Dutch stage and screen actress. She won the European Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for her movie debut in The Vanishing (1988). Among her other films are Robert Altman's Vincent & Theo (1990), István Szabó's Meeting Venus (1991) and Sweet Emma, Dear Böbe (1992), Bernard Rose's Immortal Beloved (1994), and Bruce Beresford's Paradise Road (1997). In 1994, after Julia Robert and Uma Thurman declined, Stanley Kubrick cast her for his adaptation of Louis Begley's novel Wartime Lies. Kubrick abandoned the project after Steven Spielberg's success with Schindler's List.