The Polish Bride

The question is: can a man with the conversational skills of wet hay become an object of desire?

Anna (Monic Hendrickx) runs beaten and bleeding from the city into dank countryside. She looks a mess and is exhausted when she stumbles onto Henk's farm. Since his mother died, he has lived alone and shows every indication of being incapable of social, or any other, intercourse. He doesn't bother with small talk. He doesn't bother with talk at all. She is Polish and has escaped from a brothel. Henk (Jaap Spijkers) is a knight in oily overalls. He doesn't ask questions. He doesn't look on her as a sex object.

This Dutch film, written and directed by the Algerian-born Karim Traida, is full of quiet dignity. Hendrickx's boyish features are as expressive as Spijkers' aren't.

The Beauty And The Beast, with its underlay of sweetness, exists at the story's core. In real life, the farmer would have hated her obsession with housework and she would have died of boredom. Instead, his honesty heals her hatred of men, which only goes to show that nice guys can win.