Ne Me Quitte Pas

2013
Sabine Lubbe Bakker and Niels van Koevorden
106’

production: Storyhouse and Pieter van Huystee Film
support: Dutch Film Fund, Flanders Film Fund , Canvas and NCRV


⋮ SYNOPSIS ⋮

Ne Me Quitte Pas is a tragicomic ode to failure. 

Set in a village on the edge of Belgium, Bob (Flemish) and Marcel (Walloon) share their solitude, sense of humor and craving for alcohol. They have agreed that suicide is the best way out if worse comes to worst. In that case, they have chosen the perfect spot to do so: Bob’s tree of life.

Bob is a retired cowboy who loves his freedom and the forest, while Marcel is trying to hold on to the family he is about to lose. Time passes slowly in the Wallonian countryside. Fortunately, there’s wood to be chopped, sticky flypaper to be hung and there are the occasional trips to the dentis. The remaining time is killed with drinking.

In direct cinema style we witness a Walloon carnival, a car accident and a failed attempt to find Bob’s son. Even Bob’s tree of life appears to have vanished. Despite all, the two men never indulge in self-pity. They stand strong together, until Marcel decides to stop drinking and Bob refuses to join him in rehab.

Ne Me Quitte Pas is a Belgian drama about life on the bring of society in all its beauty, modesty and irony. The authenticity of the main characters is painful and confronting, yer entertaining and utterly charming. It is a story about mortality in a place where time seems to stand still.

⋮ PRESS ⋮

James Franco’s Movie Column (Indie Wire)

⋮ AWARDS ⋮

Winner Best Editing — Tribeca 2014



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