De vader van de rechercheur

“I can’t get attached to something I don’t have,” explains 12-year-old Duuk, neatly summing up his non-existent relationship with his donor father. For 11-year-old Maarten, meanwhile, his donor father is a source of both curiosity and slight unease.

Duuk and Maarten are not actually the main characters of this inventive documentary for young audiences, made by Maarten de Schutter in his third year at the Netherlands Film Academy. Their stories are woven into a film-noir style narrative, voiced by a mysterious detective. From a dimly lit office—complete with evidence on a wall connected by strings—the detective searches for his own donor father. One of the few scraps of information he has been able to glean from a registration form is that the man has olive-colored skin—though “it doesn’t say whether the olives were green or black.”

Still, it’s in Duuk and Maarten’s reflections on their experiences as donor children where the film’s emotional heart lies. They speak in a kind-hearted and level-headed way, although it’s clear they find it hard to miss someone they’ve never met.