A. F. Th. Van der Heijden is a renowned Dutch writer. In 2016 two of his books were adapted to film. "Tonio" (Paula van der Oest) is about the death of the son of van der Heijden in a traffic accident. "The fury" (André van Duren) is about the lifelong relationship of van der Heijden with his aunt Tiny (Hannah Hoekstra).
A difficulty in making this film is that it portrays a lifelong relationship. There are many films in which a character is followed at two ages (for example as a kid and as an adult) the solution often being working with two different actors. In this film two characters are followed at numerous different ages, the solution being grimace and period details in the set pieces.
Early in the film it becomes quite obvious that aunt Tiny has been the victim of sexual abuse at a young age. The real questions that remain are:
Who donnit?
What was the impact?
The answer to the first question is shocking, but twice as shocking is the silence (and sometimes
even cooperation) of the social environment. In one scene the perpetrator makes quite clear he has not the slightest fear of discovery. He knows for sure that everybody who knows will keep his or her mouth shut. In another "Festen" (1998, Thomas Vinterberg) like scene aunt Tiny herself does not keep her mouth shut on a family gathering. She immediatly turns from victim into perpatrotor for "tarnishing the family honour", something that really counted in the Netherlands of the 50's.
The answer to the second question was also shocking for me. The film shows how the damage done lasts a whole life, even at old age the intensity of the anger does not decrease a bit.