February is here and love is all around! The stores are filled with heart shaped candies, flowers, and all sorts of romantic cards. If you and your loved one both speak Dutch or if you are in the mood for a gezellig evening at home, in this post, I will recommend a few romantic Dutch movies you can watch!

Photo taken by Susanne Nilsson found on Flickr.com with license CC BY-SA 2.0

Alles is Liefde

Alles is Liefde or Love is All is a Dutch romantic comedy that was released in 2007 and it is the movie that has it all: Sinterklaas, Zwarte Piet, the king of the Netherlands, and the canals.

The movie tells the stories of different characters. Jan rescues a boy that fell into the canal. He becomes the new Sinterklaas for a television network and is a very alternative type of Sint. Dennis cheats on his wife Klaasje with a young teacher, but then tries to get his wife back. By this time, Klaasje had a fling with a young man and isn’t too interested in Dennis. Victor and Kees are about to get married, but Kees runs out of the wedding. Then there is Kiki who works at the Bijenkorf and meets her real life prince charming, the Crown Prince Valentine (of course his name is Valentine!!). Towards the end of the movie Jan the Sinterklaas and the boy he rescued are reunited and all sorts of revelation and connections among the characters are made. As you may have suspected from the plot, Alles is Liefde was geïnspireerd or inspired by Love Actually. Shortly after, the Flemish version was released with the name Zot van A. and later a German version with the title Alles ist Liebe.

The year Alles is Liefde was released, it was the most viewed Dutch film at the movie theatres, and it was the third most viewed film in the Netherlands overall. Below is the trailer.

https://youtu.be/DISUDBrhHqg

Soof

Continuing the theme of romantic comedies, Soof is the story of 40-year old Soof who is married, has three kids and her own small-scale catering company. Her husband Kasper is having problems at work and, when Soof’s catering business booms, quits his job to help her and to take care of the kids. In the meantime, Soof meets Jim Cole, a famous TV personality who helps get her catering business on the map. Jim flirts with Soof and she enjoys the attention. Kasper inevitably notices and he asks her to leave the house. Soof falls into the arms of Jim, but trouble at home bring her back. When Soof sees that Kasper has started a relationship with Bob, she realizes she still loves him and is set on getting him back.

Soof premiered in 2013 and, in 2016, the sequel to came out. The trailer to the first Soof is below.

Mixed Kebab

For those who prefer dramatic love stories, Mixed Kebab is a Belgian film that was released in 2012. Mixed Kebab tells the story of Ibrahim, a young Muslim man born in Belgium who goes by the the typical Belgian name Bram. Even though Bram’s father was born in the Netherlands and his mother in Belgium, they adhere to many Turkish traditions. Bram likes to visit gay nightclubs and his brother Furkan constantly blackmails him. In an effort to calm the rumours that Bram is gay, Bram’s father arranges a visit to Turkey so he can meet his future bride Elif, part of an arranged marriage.

Bram travels to Turkey to meet his future wife in the company of his Belgian friend Kevin. In Belgium, they had both kept their feelings for each other hidden, but once in Turkey, they stop hiding. They quickly fall in love. One of the hotel clerks is in love with Elif and takes photos of Bram and Kevin while they are making love. Elif is shocked by the photos. The photos reach Belgium and Bram’s family disowns him. Despite their efforts to distance themselves from Bram, the family is shunned by the Muslim community so Furkan wants to do something to fix this.

As you can see, this is truly a dramatic film with a love story as the base of it all. Below is the trailer.

https://youtu.be/7IzbnjY4VYY

Which other Dutch-spoken Romantic movies would you recommend?