Dutch series ‘Modern Love Amsterdam’ shows love in all its facets
What is love? In a new series, several Dutch filmmakers ask this simple and simultaneous question in their own way. The six separate images provide a varied picture in which there is plenty of room for less traditional forms of love and pain points within a relationship. One is about a couple in an open relationship, another about whether or not they want to have children. Modern Love Amsterdam is a spin-off of an American series that itself is based on the famous essay column of The New York Times in which true stories about love and relationships are written down.
The Dutch variant is led by Robert Alberdingk Thijm, who previously played the city of Amsterdam in a leading role in the series Amsterdam – EVA. The series, which can be seen on Amazon’s streaming service Prime Video, also offers space for things that can change or put pressure on a relationship. For example, the episode ‘Keep Me Vast’ is about a couple whose husband has become disabled. Can he and his wife handle it? The characters Simon and Katja are played by Romijn Conen and Rifka Lodeizen. Their example feels authentic, partly because the same thing happened to Conen as his character: after a cerebral infarction in 2015, he suspects half-sided disability. “That I would really take on a role again, which I did not think possible for a long time,” says Conen in an Amsterdam hotel. Together with Lodeizen he talks to NRC about the creation.
Working with conclusion
The doubts whether he could handle it quickly disappeared after an improvisation session with Lodeizen and director Boudewijn Koole. However, the production had to take sufficient account of its limitation. “He can still play fantastically,” says Lodeizen. “But we had to make room for it. It had to get rust now and then, for example.” Conen: “Gradually, the boundaries have actually been shifted, because I increasingly got the feeling that it is actually growing for me as an actor.”
The story in the series is not his own, but it does contain personal elements. The same goes for accepting or not accepting the new situation. His character is faster than himself, Conen admits. “He thinks faster than I do in my daily life.” Lodeizen: “And you find it more difficult in real life?” Cone: “Yes. Every day you experience things that you used to be able to solve very easily. And now you can’t fix that. You are in need of help.”
In the episode, the couple talks about intimacy. For example, Simon tells his wife that he understands if she will look for someone on a sexual plane better suited to her needs that could meet her needs. “When it comes to love, you shouldn’t shy away from the pain,” says Lodeizen. “Many stories revolve around the places where the rubbing when it comes to intimacy. in the end it is not about that handicap at all, it is about how you struggle through love together.”
Both actors hope that the episode will provide certainty: people with disabilities are seen far too little in film and TV, they say. Lodeizen: “They simply do not see themselves represented. That’s a bad thing. We leave something behind if we don’t do anything with it.” Self further Conen here also about his own situation. “It is still the case that the casting agencies almost do not want to work with me because they have not seen whether I can handle it at all. I think the launch of this series will change. I hope people think: damn, he’s just doing it for a while.”
Mother feelings
The episode with actresses Hanna van Vliet and Ilke Paddenburg also overlaps with real life. The two play in the episode, namely a couple, which they have been for eight years in real life. “We were also asked to come as a duo at the audition,” says Van Vliet during a conversation in an Amsterdam café-restaurant. “It felt a bit strange, but also very nice. You don’t feel the kind of discomfort you might otherwise have at an audition like this.”
The episode touches on whether or not you have maternal feelings, something that has a different dimension for a lesbian couple than for a straight couple. However, the series doesn’t make a big deal of the queer relationship. “It is not about the fact that they are lesbians,” says Paddenburg, who joined Van Vliet to talk about the episode. “That aspect of their relationship is not problematized. It’s just like that.” Van Vliet adds: “That is also true inclusion. You can be very specific about certain things, but not everything revolves around their identity.” The door Maud Wiemeijer (Anne+) written episode also has a magical realism element: Paddenburg plays a writer who goes to live and work for a while in the former home of a famous writer. They seem to have traveled around the 1950s at a time. From that moment on, the line between fantasy and reality blurs. Paddenburg: „It was exciting to find a balance here. We don’t often do something like this in the Netherlands, also because there is often little budget. We do it in a fairly clear way. It is best not to doubt the fantasy layer. It is a kind of feverish dream where she ends up, an externalization of an inner conflict.”
New possibilities
The two actresses are part of a bigger thing: a spin-off of an American series from the Amazon tech company. On December 16 Modern Love Amsterdam distributed worldwide (Amazon speaks of more than 240 countries and territories). Van Vliet is the protagonist and co-creator of Anne+ already experienced something. Anne+ started as a web series at the NPO, managed to bind a large group of viewers and can be seen worldwide via Netflix. “With such a large American streaming service, you notice that there are many more layers, more than we are used to here in the Netherlands,” she says. “It brings new opportunities but also challenges. How big should something be? The bigger you get, the harder you have to defend some of your own choices.”
In addition to Amazon and Netflix, streaming services such as Disney + and HBO Max are also working on Dutch productions. Foreign results with Dutch parties such as the companies NPO and RTL (Videoland). “On the one hand, there seem to be more opportunities than ever,” continues Van Vliet. “But there is also a discussion about what foreign streamers are doing in the Dutch market. Are they just hiring crew and actors or are they really investing in the industry?”
At least the protagonists are happy with this project for Amazon. Paddenburg sometimes felt like an Alice in Wonderland while shooting in the old house of writers. “Isn’t that a childhood dream come true? Even ending up in a completely different world.”
Modern Love Amsterdam can be seen on Prime Video from Friday 16 December.
A version of this article also appeared in the December 14, 2022 newspaper