
In a part of Flanders where flax is the main crop, farmer Vermeulen rules his estate like an 'old school' patriarch, stern and authoritarian, nobody else's word is ever taken seriously, just scolded fools, he rather risks being wrong then considering any advice. His marriage is based on a grim understanding: the wife Barbele accepts his heartless manner with everyone, even their studious, smart, healthy, studly son and heir Louis, but his two silly sisters are spoiled with a pointless fancy nunnery boarding school education fit for the upper classes. Farm-life is hard enough, laboring without machines or reliable weather, but this year the stubborn master made it even worse by picking the riskier, badly drained field and sowing later then his neighbors, even when luck turns he'll fetch a lower price for it. Poor practically perfect Louis is granted neither praise, respect nor any pleasure, however hard and well he slaves, obedient like the hired farmhands although well-read. Even ...
Release Date: 7/1/1983
Runtime: 85 minutes
Languages: Dutch
Director: Jan Gruyaert
Budget: $0.9M
0Companies: Kunst en Kino N.V., Ciné-Vista, Ministerie van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap
Countries: Belgium, Netherlands
Dries Wieme
Poortere
Vic Moeremans
boer Vermeulen

Dora van der Groen
Barbele
René van Sambeek
Louis
Gusta Gerritsen
Schellebelle
Max Schnur
Doorken de slijter
Dries Wieme
Poortere
Dirk Celis
Bert

Daan Hugaert
Jan
Mark Peeters
Hugo

Mieke De Groote
Martha
Ilse Uytterlinden
Lea
Marcelle Uytterlinden
Fietje