On a remote Indonesian island, during the waning days of the colonial era, Dutch sugar factory owner Jan and his wife, Agathe are at the top of the food chain. That is, until Jan upon returning from his nightly visit to his native concubine Siti, suddenly drops dead in front of his wife. With the disorder in the household further compounded by a workers’ protest, his the desperate widow demands the return from Europe of Jan’s pompous son Cornelius and his heavily pregnant wife Josefin. When they all learn of the patriarch's decision to bequeath his estate to his son with Siti, the ensuing power struggles add a further degree of turbulence.
A sharp-eyed satire that’s remarkable for its ruthless intelligence and visual flair, Ena Sendijarević’s second feature is a potent reminder about the ways personal relationships can be poisoned by the systems and structures in which we operate.
