It's All So Quiet

Set on a bleak Dutch farm we find middle-aged bachelor Helmer caring for his dying father and tending to small herds of sheep and cattle by himself.  His sexual repression is revealed carefully in his association with the few people who visit his farm.  Most revealing is his treatment of Johan, the milk collector, another lonely single who may be a little more in touch with his feelings.  A young hand comes to work for Helmer and cracks his shell with bittersweet consequences.  The film's ending leaves  everything poignantly unresolved but strangely satisfying.  The late Jeroen Willems, brilliant as Helmer, in one his last films gave an authentic and heartbreaking performance.