Romy's salonPosted by Stein Feldman on February 2nd, 2021 In “Romy's Salon”, a ten-year-old girl experiences her grandmother's progressive dementia and becomes a shrewd accomplice in the struggle for freedom and dignity - a comparison with Til Schweiger's “Honig im Kopf” (2014) is of course obvious in such a story. A box-office hit like the sugar-coated tragicomedy, in which Schweiger's daughter Emma and Dieter Hallervorden play the leading roles and which ultimately attracted more than seven million viewers to the cinemas, this German-Dutch production is unlikely to be due to a lack of well-known actors and marketing worth millions . It's a shame, because the film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Tamara Bos is clearly the better film contribution on the subject. Close to life and without kitsch and dramaturgical chocolates, the Dutch director Mischa Kamp ("Tony 10") tells in a sensitive and child-friendly way about a special connection that only develops here when confronted with the disease. "Romy's Salon" - in contrast to Schweiger's contribution - always hits the right note. Romy and her grandmother Stine: a well-rehearsed girl power team despite Alzheimer's! First things are not going so well between Romy (Vita Heijmen) and her grandmother Stine (Beppie Melissen). The ten-year-old feels deported when her mother Margot (Noortje Herlaar) takes a full-time job after the divorce and Romy parks in Grandma’s hairdressing salon after school. watch series is also not enthusiastic, after all, she has a lot to do and a child only disturbs her work. The tide turns, however, when Stine becomes increasingly forgetful and Romy takes on more and more tasks in the salon. When Stine was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, Margot's decision was clear: no one could take care of her, so her mother had to go to a nursing home. Romy disagrees and makes a risky decision ...
Unfortunately, it is a reality that crises such as the serious, incurable illness of a family member do not stop at the supposed idyll of childhood. No matter how hard our society tries to isolate the apparently “too small” from these difficult topics. Director Mischa Kamp practically chooses the opposite way and lets us experience Stine's illness through children's eyes. An understanding and loving look that often sees more than the adults: Grandma is a problem for the divorced parents, the nursing home is quickly a done deal. But Romy sees what the others don't see: that grandma needs her home, her work and her cat Jens. She sees that Grandma is not doing well and that she is making mistakes. But she also sees the fun, bizarre and sometimes adventurous moments that the disease brings with it. It is precisely this empathic perspective that gives the film its special emotional power.
Big emotions without flat kitsch
While we observe Romy helping her grandmother, we also pursue a personal development: From being a child that is insecure after the parents' separation, Romy becomes a responsible person who is an important, if not the only anchor for her grandmother - and vice versa. Without much ado, Kamp succeeds in portraying Romy's situation as a child of divorce who has lost its place in the world and finds him again in her grandma's hairdressing salon. A nice moment that Romy's story - again in complete contrast to the Schweiger's sugar attack - allows it to dock very unobtrusively to the audience's emotional receptors.
Another big plus is that Kamp takes her characters seriously and never exposes them. Where in “Honig im Kopf” the protagonist suffering from dementia (despite the strong performance of Dieter Hallervorden) sometimes almost looks like a caricature for the sake of a few gags, Stine is always authentic and lifelike. In addition to the script, which does not use unnecessary effects, this is also due to the very natural representations of Vita Heijmen and especially Beppie Melissen, who, despite all desperation, also gives her Stine a lot of strength, dignity, wit and, last but not least, style. And despite all the tragedy, there is enough good mood when Romy and her grandmother wuppet the hair salon with combined girl power.
Conclusion: "honey in the head" without artificial sweeteners and constructed gags. A calm, respectful and also lively film on the subject of dementia, with substance and an inspiring, sympathetic grandma-granddaughter team.
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Romy's Salon Trailer DF
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