De Omweg

De Omweg is a 2000 Dutch semi-biographical road movie drama written and directed by Frouke Fokkema and starring Tamar van den Dop, Joachim Bißmeier, Willeke van Ammelrooy, Jan Decleir and Thom Hoffman. Based on Fokkema's play by the same name.
The movie was first shown at 2000's Netherlands Film Festival, where Tamar van den Dop was nominated for best actress. The film later went nationwide on November 9, 2000 to few ticket sales. During filming van den Dop recorded behind the scenes footage and discussed her own experiences on set, this would be turned into a behind the scenes documentary called, "Scheppen gaat van au!"

Cast

Tamar van den Dop as Joanna
Joachim Bißmeier as Thomas Bernhard
Willeke van Ammelrooy as Joanna's Mother
Jan Decleir as Joanna's Father
as gynecologist
Thom Hoffman as Camille Kleber
Peer Mascini as Luc de Koning
as Anna
Inge Rosenberg as Aunt Hedda
as Willem
as Bobby
Halina Reijn as Sara

Production

De Omweg is based on Fokkema's debut play that she wrote in 1982, it details her own meeting with her idol, the Austrian playwright Thomas Bernhard. Fokkema had been working for ten years to get the adaptation of the ground, initially she had difficulties securing a subsidy from the Austrian government. The film received around 152.000 euro in funding from Eurimages. In collaboration with the local Rotterdam government in terms of available financial support and willingness to cooperate, some of the filming took place in the city in 1999.

Release

The film had a limited release in Dutch theaters on 9 November 2000.