(Ena Sendijarević, 2023, Netherlands/Réunion/Indonesia/Sweden, 103 minutes)

During lockdown days we featured Dutch director Ena Sendijarević’s debut film, Take Me Somewhere Nice, in our ‘virtual cinema’, and are pleased to now have the opportunity to run her sophomore effort, Sweet Dreams, on our screen in Winifred Moore. Set on a sugar plantation in Indonesia during the Dutch colonial era, we follow the women in patriarch Jan’s (Hans Dagelet) life once he dies and leaves his estate in a state of chaos. Among said women are his widow Agathe (Renée Soutendijk); his Indonesian housekeeper Siti (Hayati Azis), mother of an illegitimate son of Jan’s; and Agathe’s very pregnant daughter-in-law Josefin (Lisa Zweerman). Striking a nice balance between being relatively light and enjoyable, given the subject matter, and never losing sight of its political engagement, gender and class politics, and more, Sweet Dreams further establishes Sendijarević as a talent to watch.

In Dutch and Indonesian with English subtitles.