Meis is a 15-year-old girl tentatively exploring this scary thing called sex while living with her dysfunctional family, residing in a small house at a curve on a rural dead-end road. The curve is important.
The excellent: Through Meis's train-of-thought narration, and wide, colorful visuals of the environment, we deeply feel her desire to expand her experiences. No one lives nearby, she doesn't have transportation, her only friend is a girl close in age who visits infrequently, and the story is apparently set before cell phones became our nannies. We feel her sense of boredom to our core, yet we aren't bored. She annoys Mom, distains Dad, and thinks Grandma is faking it, as she substitutes the risks of climbing high structures for the risk she wishes to take but hasn't.
The mediocre: Meis is intimate with Sue. We get a sense that Sue is more into their relationship than Meis is, but that's all, we don't see much of them together. Unfortunately, Supernova neither shows nor tells how deeply Meis feels about Sue, or how far their intimacy has progressed. We learn that unlike Sue, Meis is interested in boys, too, but has no experience with them. (She's certainly not "oversexed.") We never learn how strong is Meis's attraction to each gender, nor whether she accepts her possible bi nature or is bothered by it. Meis seems like a thoughtful person in many other regards; by not giving us a deeper insight into her thoughts about her sexuality, the director (who also plays her mother) fails us. If, being only 15, Meis doesn't know what she feels or thinks about this, even that should have been made clear. It wasn't.
The Humorous: The film derives from the book, "My Father Says that We Save Lives." Yeah, well. They save lives by removing the road signs warning of the sharp curve in front of their house, causing drunk or careless drivers to crash into the living room, rather than continuing to the end of the road and driving into the water to drown. They keep a box of mementos of each of the crashed drivers, numbering seven when the story opens. Dad, driving too fast, was number one; this is how he met Mom some 15-plus years ago. Meis is hoping that number eight will be age-appropriate, male, cute, and demonstrate lovemaking and romancing skills like those of the men she surreptitiously reads about in Mom's bodice-ripper novels.
The baffling, minor and major: Other than "saving lives", what makes them so happy about causing the wrecks? Why does Grandma stop her neurotic head-shaking to smile about it? Are they getting insurance money? If so, where's it going? It sure isn't used to maintain the house.
When Boris arrives with a bang, WHY does he stay at their house??? Nowhere else to go? Why didn't the family call an ambulance? (He's okay after a while). Would it kill the director to give us a clue? This just wasn't believable without some explanation. (I realized later that the arrival of these invariably male bad drivers seems to act as "inspiration" for Mom and Dad... but only 6 times in 15 years??? Yeesh.)
Why, before this story starts, did Grandpa commit suicide? Is Grandma trying to "join" him? Other than possibly denying his death, why does she continually shake her head? These questions aren't critical to the plot, but could easily have been shown with little impact. There was oodles of time.
For the prudes: As in the majority of American states, the Dutch age of consent is 16 and has similar exceptions for slightly younger people when their lovers are close in age and not in a position of control. So Meis at 15 (acted by 21-year-old Gaite Jansen), Sue, and Boris are thus likely legal. Mom and Dad, of course, have concerns.
Even with it's faults, which easily could have been eliminated, this is still an enjoyable and interesting film.
The excellent: Through Meis's train-of-thought narration, and wide, colorful visuals of the environment, we deeply feel her desire to expand her experiences. No one lives nearby, she doesn't have transportation, her only friend is a girl close in age who visits infrequently, and the story is apparently set before cell phones became our nannies. We feel her sense of boredom to our core, yet we aren't bored. She annoys Mom, distains Dad, and thinks Grandma is faking it, as she substitutes the risks of climbing high structures for the risk she wishes to take but hasn't.
The mediocre: Meis is intimate with Sue. We get a sense that Sue is more into their relationship than Meis is, but that's all, we don't see much of them together. Unfortunately, Supernova neither shows nor tells how deeply Meis feels about Sue, or how far their intimacy has progressed. We learn that unlike Sue, Meis is interested in boys, too, but has no experience with them. (She's certainly not "oversexed.") We never learn how strong is Meis's attraction to each gender, nor whether she accepts her possible bi nature or is bothered by it. Meis seems like a thoughtful person in many other regards; by not giving us a deeper insight into her thoughts about her sexuality, the director (who also plays her mother) fails us. If, being only 15, Meis doesn't know what she feels or thinks about this, even that should have been made clear. It wasn't.
The Humorous: The film derives from the book, "My Father Says that We Save Lives." Yeah, well. They save lives by removing the road signs warning of the sharp curve in front of their house, causing drunk or careless drivers to crash into the living room, rather than continuing to the end of the road and driving into the water to drown. They keep a box of mementos of each of the crashed drivers, numbering seven when the story opens. Dad, driving too fast, was number one; this is how he met Mom some 15-plus years ago. Meis is hoping that number eight will be age-appropriate, male, cute, and demonstrate lovemaking and romancing skills like those of the men she surreptitiously reads about in Mom's bodice-ripper novels.
The baffling, minor and major: Other than "saving lives", what makes them so happy about causing the wrecks? Why does Grandma stop her neurotic head-shaking to smile about it? Are they getting insurance money? If so, where's it going? It sure isn't used to maintain the house.
When Boris arrives with a bang, WHY does he stay at their house??? Nowhere else to go? Why didn't the family call an ambulance? (He's okay after a while). Would it kill the director to give us a clue? This just wasn't believable without some explanation. (I realized later that the arrival of these invariably male bad drivers seems to act as "inspiration" for Mom and Dad... but only 6 times in 15 years??? Yeesh.)
Why, before this story starts, did Grandpa commit suicide? Is Grandma trying to "join" him? Other than possibly denying his death, why does she continually shake her head? These questions aren't critical to the plot, but could easily have been shown with little impact. There was oodles of time.
For the prudes: As in the majority of American states, the Dutch age of consent is 16 and has similar exceptions for slightly younger people when their lovers are close in age and not in a position of control. So Meis at 15 (acted by 21-year-old Gaite Jansen), Sue, and Boris are thus likely legal. Mom and Dad, of course, have concerns.
Even with it's faults, which easily could have been eliminated, this is still an enjoyable and interesting film.