The Dutch Mystery Movie That Claimed A Spot In Netflix's Top 10
I'm not the biggest fan of Netflix. I don't want to get into a huge rant about it, but my biggest issue is that here in the Czech Republic, it takes the service forever to upload any new movies. Then, when something fresh finally drops, it's usually something starring Ryan Reynolds, Adam Sandler, or Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. I may be exaggerating, but that's what it feels like; too many mediocre Netflix originals and not much in the way of variety beyond the most mainstream of offerings.
To give Netflix its due, it does throw up some surprises from time to time. Given how subtitle-adverse many viewers in English-speaking countries can be, they took a bit of a chance on "Squid Game," but it went on to become a phenomenon and further advanced the cause of the booming Korean entertainment industry. Then there was "Cobra Kai," which sounded a lot like the bottom of the '80s nostalgia barrel being scraped. Instead, the show's creators found a refreshingly original slant, changing the perspective to the villain from "The Karate Kid" instead of the hero. More recently, there was "Wednesday," a spinoff of "The Addams Family." Everyone likes a bit of Charles Addams' macabre creations, but who would have predicted that it would out-perform Netflix's flagship show, "Stranger Things?"
Not all the surprises are of such good quality, however. This week, as Jennifer Lopez dominated the Netflix viewing charts with "The Mother," the Top 10 was also crashed by an unheralded thriller from the Netherlands. So what exactly is "Faithfully Yours" and is it worth watching to see what all the fuss is about?
So what happens in Faithfully Yours?
"Faithfully Yours" opens with a little teaser: A dog trots out of a beach house garden to greet its owner and leaves bloody paw prints on his nice white shirt. After that, we're introduced to Bodil Backer (Bracha von Doesburgh), a court judge and mother who is married to Milan (Nasrdin Dchar). They seem happy enough, but she can't wait for her girls' trip to the coast with best friend Isabel (Elise Schaap), who has planned a weekend of lectures and historic walks. Soaking up the local culture is the last thing on their minds, however; they use these jaunts to cover up each other's extramarital flings.
They are meant to be staying together in Bodil's gorgeous beach house, but Isabel leaves her phone and checks into a grand old hotel instead. While Bodil dutifully attends a lecture to get snaps to supposedly prove where Isabel is, her friend is heading off to a club instead. Meanwhile, Bodil meets Michael (Matteo Simoni), the dishy lecturer, and spends the night with him.
Isabel has to return home after her novelist husband Luuk (Gijs Naber) breaks his ankle, leaving Bodil alone to enjoy the rest of the weekend. Michael wants to hang out but she makes it clear that she was only interested in a one-night stand. Returning to the beach house after a swim, she discovers signs of a break-in and a pool of blood on the floor. The cops determine that it belongs to Isabel and question Bodil, who unwisely lies to cover herself and her friend's infidelities. It's a bad idea because when Isabel's second phone shows up with a photo of her murder and Michael refuses to corroborate her alibi, she becomes a suspect. Worse still, Milan shows up with Luuk and starts acting suspiciously.
Is Faithfully Yours any good?
Beneath the cool sleek Euro murder-mystery exterior of "Faithfully Yours" pumps the sweaty heart of those Hollywood psycho-thrillers from the '90s like "Sliver," "Color of Night," or "Guilty as Sin." You know, the second-tier ones you'd end up renting from Blockbuster on a Friday if someone beat you to "Single White Female" or "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle."
The film's old-fashionedness is both a blessing and a curse. There is something reassuringly predictable about the way the screenplay dutifully sets up the mystery and then throws out a new clue every five minutes to keep you on your toes. The trio of writers (Elisabeth Lodeizen, Paul Jan Nelissen, and director André van Duren) work overtime shifting the suspicion from one person to the next, all the way up to the obligatory twist ending.
The characters are blank thriller archetypes who are just there to move the plot along, so in between the regular revelations you can keep yourself entertained by picking out scenes that remind you of better movies. Bodil and Isabel's pact to provide each other with an alibi for their affairs calls to mind "Strangers on a Train," and the club scene reminded me of Michael Douglas awkwardly bumping and grinding in "Basic Instinct." There is even an overhead view of a spiral staircase that is almost a carbon copy of the famous shot in "The Spiral Staircase."
I don't know if those references were intentional or not, but it shows the rich seam of psychological thriller heritage that "Faithfully Yours" draws from. This may be why it is so popular, giving us something comfortingly familiar in a modern package without any nostalgia. It's not very good, but even mundane murder mysteries are entertaining when there is nothing better to watch. Which is a lot of the time on Netflix.