Synopsis
Sugar beets are what bind the southern Dutch town of Stampersgat together. The local sugar factory isn't doing very well, and as a result the whole town is a mess. Because of new EU legislation, the European subsidy for the cultivation of sugar beets has disappeared. In church, people are praying for better times. Director Patrick Bus films the town he grew up in, his own family in particular, with a sharp eye for detail. His father is so crazy about sugar that he puts it on everything, from soup to French fries, and Bus captures this all in stationary shots from right above the plate. Later, we see his dad's dentures floating in a little bowl.
Since the elder Bus's early retirement, his parents' marriage has been on the rocks. While taking a bubble bath, his mother wonders whether she could make it on her own. When the filmmaker's cousin sees that his plan to take over his father's farm is being thwarted, he switches to the potato industry. This extremely personal account reveals the boredom and internal irritations of people who have ended up in a black hole because of the loss of the sugar industry. Patient takes, accompanied by Bus's distant narration, intensify this effect.