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7.3
/10
128 Ratings

THE DEBUT

Het debuut

Directed by Nouchka van Brakel
Netherlands, 1977
Romance, Drama
  • 9595 minutes

Synopsis

The delicate story of the impossible love between an older married man and a schoolgirl. Carolien is fourteen-years-old, her first love is Hugo who’s 41. Carolien made him discover something he thought would never happen to him: a second youth.

Synopsis

The delicate story of the impossible love between an older married man and a schoolgirl. Carolien is fourteen-years-old, her first love is Hugo who’s 41. Carolien made him discover something he thought would never happen to him: a second youth.

Our take

A bold and provocative tale of taboo romance, this feminist recalibration of Lolita was the first Dutch feature film to be directed by a woman. Granting remarkable agency to its 14-year-old protagonist, Nouchka van Brakel’s The Debut is a profoundly empathetic examination of unethical desire.