3. Avond &...

Lyrics

Nu hoef je nooit je jas meer aan te trekken
(You don't have to put your coat on any more)
en te hopen dat je licht het doet.
(and hope that your light is working)
laat buiten de stormwind nu maar razen in het donker
(Let the storm rage in in the darkness outside)
want binnen is het warm en licht en goed
(Because inside it is warm and light and good)

hand in hand naar buiten kijkend waar de regen valt
(Holding hands, while watching how outside the rain is falling)
ik zie het vuur van hoop en twijfel in je ogen
(I see the fire of hope and doubt in your eyes)
en ik ken je diepste angst
(And I know your deepest fear)

Want je kunt niets zeker weten en alles gaat voorbij
(Because you can't be certain of anything and everything will end)
Maar ik geloof, ik geloof, ik geloof, ik geloof, ik geloof in jou en mij
(But I believe, I believe in you and me)

En als je 's morgens opstaat ben ik bij je
(And when you wake up in the morning I am with you)
en misschien heb ik al thee gezet
(And I might have made some thee)

En als de zon schijnt buiten gaan we lopen door de duinen
(And when outside the sun is shining, we'll walk through the dunes)
en als het regent gaan we t'rug in bed
(And when it rains, we'll go back to bed)

Uren langzaam wakker worden, zwevend door de tijd
(We'll take hours to slowly wake up, floating through time)
Ik zie het licht door de gordijnen
(I see the light through the curtains)
en ik weet, t'verleden geeft geen zekerheid
(And I know, the past gives no certainty)

Want je kunt niets zeker weten en alles gaat voorbij
(Because you can't be certain of anything and everything will end)
Maar ik geloof, ik geloof, ik geloof, ik geloof, ik geloof in jou en mij
ik geloof, ik geloof, ik geloof, ik geloof, ik geloof in jou en mij
(But I believe, I believe in you and me)

Ik doe de lichten uit en de kamer wordt nu donker,
(I turn the lights off and now the room becomes dark)
een straatlantaarn buiten geeft wat licht,
(A street lantern outside gives some light)

En de dingen in de kamer worden vrienden die gaan slapen,
(And the things in the room become friends that go to sleep)
de stoelen staan te wachten op 't ontbijt
(The chairs are waiting for breakfast)

En morgen wordt ik wakker met de geur van brood en honing.
(And tomorrow I wake up with the smell of bread and honey)
De glans van gouden zonlicht in je haar
(De glow of golden sunshine in your hair)

En de dingen in de kamer, ik zeg ze welterusten
(And the things in the room, I wish them goodnight)
vanavond gaan we slapen en morgen zien we wel
(Tonight we'll sleep and we'll see about tomorrow)

Maar de dingen in de kamer zouden levenloze dingen zijn, zonder jou
(But the things in the room would be lifeless things without you)

En je kunt niets zeker weten en alles gaat voorbij
Maar ik geloof, ik geloof, ik geloof, ik geloof, ik geloof in jou en mij
ik geloof, ik geloof, ik geloof, ik geloof, ik geloof in jou en mij
En je kunt niets zeker weten want alles gaat voorbij
Maar ik geloof, ik geloof, ik geloof, ik geloof, ik geloof in jou en mij
ik geloof, ik geloof, ik geloof, ik geloof, ik geloof in jou en mij
(And you can't now anything for certain and everything will end,
But I believe, Ibelieve in you and me)

Yeah, I will translate songs that are not in English. Obviously this song should by no means be the third best song of all time. I don't think it's even the best Dutch song of all time, but it's certainly not a bad song. This is not a glamorous love song. We get the feeling this is quite an ordinary, realistic, slightly old couple. They don't need many romantic fantasies for their love. They love each other because of the mundane and ordinary things they do together in their life. There aren't many songs that take such a realistic approach to love and there aren't that many movies either. I found it pretty hard to find a movie to fit this song, but eventually I decided on a very recent one, about which I read that it presents us with a very ordinary realistic old couple. And when I watched it, I found it was a better fit than I even thought.

The movie: Another Year (Mike Leigh, 2010)

Mike Leigh is a rather unique director. He doesn't write a screenplay for his movies. Instead he gets an idea for what could be an interesting movie and with his often recurring cast and crew improvises the movie scene by scene. He wants his movies to be a reflection of reality and he obviously thinks that the way he works is the best way to achieve that. Up until now I hadn't seen a movie by him, but it is obvious his method has success. He is on of the most critically acclaimed modern British directors and he has 7 Oscar nominations. Ironically some of them are for Best Original Screenplay. And Another Year is a great movie indeed. For three quarters of its running time it is one of the best representations of ordinary life I've ever seen at the movies.

It's about a couple in their in their 50's, Tom (Jim Broadbent) and Gerri (Ruth Sheen) and their interactions with their friends and family. We see them doing things any ordinary people do. They have jobs, they cook, they work at home and in their garden, talk about banalities, make bad jokes with their friends. What Leigh shows is that most of the time in life big things don't happen to us. Our mood depends mostly on the details. Buying a small car, going to have nice dinner with friends, a stupid joke, an annoying patient, a broken car, these are the kinds of things that most of the time make us happy, sad or annoyed. The title of the movie is actually perfect. The movie is divided into section called spring, summer, autumn and winter. What we see may not be the most interesting things that have happened to Tom and Gerri all year, but that's the point. It are the things that could happen any other year to them. It's a movie about the daily life of ordinary people. It works brilliantly until the section in winter. It opens with the funeral of the wife of Tom's brother. I thought that was a mistake. Like I said up until then the movie was interested in how our life is shaped by mundane, ordinary things. I found it rather unfortunate that Leigh now suddenly felt the need to dramatize things with something important like a funeral. On top of this in the scenes involving this funeral, the cinematography was suddenly darkened. Up until then the mood in the film was set by the behavior of the characters. Now the behavior of the characters was set by the mood of the film. There are, of course, brilliant movies for which this works. Not for this movie though, whose biggest strength was in its feeling of naturalness. By so obviously darkening the cinematography he made this scenes feel unnecessarily artificial. And the problems didn't stop here. He also introduced the long lost son of the deceased, who was such an obnoxious and idiotic character, it felt like he came from another movie. When later on Gerri mentioned that her son would come home with his girlfriend I feared that the movie would end with a cliche marriage. Luckily that didn't happen. And despite these winter scenes the movie is still incredibly good.

After watching this, I thought of Sam Mendes' American Beauty. That is also a very good movie, but Another Year feels like the opposite of that one. This movie claims that there is nothing wrong with living an ordinary and, sometimes, a bit dull life. There can be much virtue found in that. Tom and Gerri had a great time when they were young. They had fun at rock concerts and traveled around the world. But most people can not live that sort of life forever. We eventually have to settle down. And that sort of life can be good to if we have a nice a family and good friends with whom we can talk with fond memories about our youth. And the jobs they have may not be glamorous; Gerri is a psychologist, Tom is a geological engineer. But they help people with it, even if they might not always see the end result of their labor.