SXSW is known for being the most welcoming stop on the festival circuit, with audiences who are eager to jump to their feet and shout themselves hoarse for every outlandish joke or gory kill. In fact, a sizzle reel shown before every screening on Sunday to highlight the previous day’s programming included clips of filmmakers like Dave Franco and Paul Feig heaping praise on the Austin crowd for their positive energy.
But some attendees of the world premiere of “Holland,” led by Nicole Kidman, Matthew Macfadyen and Gael Garcia Bernal, seemed atypically on edge. Kidman still attracted a healthy dose of cheers when her name came up as the film was introduced and when she appeared onstage afterwards, but the volume was lower than usual due to empty sections of seats. Several audience members audibly whispered and even left the theater throughout the film’s abstract nightmare sequences and bloody plot twists. And as the credits rolled, many more opted not to stick around for the post-screening panel, whereas headliners on Friday and Saturday saw more enthusiasm for their Q&As.
In Holland, Kidman’s Nancy suspects her husband (Macfadyen) of cheating on her, and enlists her coworker (Bernal) to help investigate her suspicions. As she continues to uncover confusing clues, the vulnerability of her family unit manifests in surreal, terrifying dreams.
“The dreams came out of wanting to feel like we could be in Nancy’s interior and enter the anxiety and the fear she was having,” director Mimi Cave said when asked about the horror-like images she created for when Nancy goes to sleep. “And also wanting to protect her family and her son. I have a real way into stories through visuals, and they tend to be pretty out there. Whatever you end up seeing on screen is usually reined in from where it started.”
Everyone in “Holland” has secrets, but Macfadyen’s character, Fred, is the most mysterious of all. “When you’re making the film, you play each moment as it comes,” he said when asked how he approached the plot twists. “Most of Fred is pretty conventional, quite sweet, until it goes south. Until then, you’re just playing the family man, a devoted husband. The more you lean into that, the better, because then the payoff is hopefully more interesting.”
The film is named after Holland, Michigan, the Dutch-influenced city where it takes place, and before things go awry, Nancy is the perfect picture of an old-school American housewife. Speaking about the setting, Kidman said, “It was incredible tableau for Mimi to go and do her thing. She wanted to be able to create another world, and the backdrop of the windmill and the clogs and all of that gave her such a cinematic basis to create what she does. We were able to create characters in this slightly heightened reality, and then take you on a twisty, crazy, wild ride.”
Bernal, of course, wasn’t playing a Dutch Midwesterner. Dave, who is Mexican-American, feels like an outsider in Holland, which adds tension to his relationship with Nancy, who is popular in town.
“It was a great opportunity to portray a Chicano, a strand of the Mexican culture which has evolved for many years [within] a United States tradition.” Bernal said. “To go into that part of the United States where it is very specific. Chicano identity is not the same as in Los Angeles, or as here [in Texas]. I loved going into my own world and then playing opposite [Kidman and Macfadyen] and having a lot of fun as well.”
