InstituteFestivalProfessionals
EN/NL
Donate
Loading...
MyIDFA
The Sea that Thinks
About IDFA
Archive
The Sea that Thinks
IDFA 2012

The Sea that Thinks

De zee die denkt
Gert de Graaff
Netherlands
2000
100 min
Festival history

We humans live in a world of illusions. In a playful labyrinth of images and viewpoints, this film raises questions that get to the very essence of existence. Is this real? What do I think I see? Who do I think I am? The main character in this illusory drama is a screenwriter desperately looking for a leitmotif, a connection between things, between the separate scenes in his story. Then he introduces himself as a character in his script. He does what he types and he types what he does, and illusion and reality soon blend completely. He is delighted by the twist in his story and gradually seems to manage what he has been trying to do: to let go of the thoughts that hinder his being and to be happy, unfettered by anything. Just like the sea in the story that the film’s title refers to: the sea that thinks she is a tree and is robbed of her happiness because of that illusion. But nothing is what it seems in this film, which is not about the screenwriter, after all. The film, the greatest illusion of all, is about the viewer.

Credits
Director