wife go. She moves with Ritsaart to Cobham, Kent, and impresses English society, and gives birth to a daughter, but the child dies after a few days. Hedwig doesn't know how to separate reality and fantasy and impulsively goes to Calais, where she is fooled into going with a man whom she thinks is her husband but turns out to be a thief. On the train to Paris, he steals her bag, which she thinks contains her daughter. She ends up in an isolation cell of a psychiatric institution. After she is released she becomes addicted to morphine and prostitutes herself. Hedwig faints from hunger on the street and is taken to a hospital. She gets help from the French convent sister Paula, who helps her overcome her addiction. When she is healthy again she returns to the Netherlands. She decides to visit Joop and runs into Ritsaart, telling him that she will always love him but doesn't want to see him again. She spends her last years with a farmer's family. Production The film was produced by Matthijs van Heijningen, with whom van Brakel had worked previously, most notably on Zwaarmoedige verhalen voor bij de centrale verwarming (1975). The budget was small—some E900,000 in today's currency—which led to conflict between Van Brakel and Van Heijningen. The former was concerned with artistic integrity, the latter with money; Van Heijningen publicly criticized the director and her staff (he called them lazy amateurs in a leading Dutch movie magazine), leading to a work stoppage. Van Heijningen apologized, again publicly, and work was resumed; afterward, he took out a full-page ad and congratulated the crew—they did likewise. Several scenes in the film were shot at the Hof van Moerkerken in Mijnsheerenland where Frederik van Eeden lived in the 19th century. Cast Renée Soutendijk as Hedwig Marga 'Hetty' de Fontayne Derek de Lint as Ritsaart (Richard Delmonte) Adriaan Olree as Gerard Johannes Hendrikus Wijbrands Erik van 't Wout as Johan Peter Faber as Joop Claire Wauthion as Sister Paula / Mother Krijn ter Braak as Father Lettie Oosthoek as Governess Kristine de Both as Leonora Huub Stapel as Herman Siem Vroom as Religion teacher Rudolf Lucieer as General practitioner Note: Dutch actor Hans van Tongeren was initially cast as Johan, the character who commits suicide—but he committed suicide just before the filming started. Reception The film is praised as a "handsome period melodrama". Critical