The Happy Housewife

Running time: 100 mins

The beautiful Carice van Houten (Paul Verhoeven?s Black Book) gives a tour-de-force performance as a woman whose glamorous life turns out to be not all she expected.

Flight attendant Lea Meyer lives a happy and sex-filled life with her husband, Harry. It seems only natural to Harry that they celebrate six years together by starting a family. They waste no time "getting to work" and soon have a baby boy on the way. Unfortunately, Lea?s labor is unexpectedly traumatic, and she begins to unravel when the Meyers bring Harry Jr. home. Lea no longer works; Harry refuses to have sex with her; and the long repressed pain from her childhood finally pushes its way to the surface?forcing Lea to confront her demons and get her life back on track.

Director Antoinette Beumer?s debut feature runs the gamut of emotions with bracing humor and tragic drama. The Happy Housewife showcases Van Houten?s exceptional acting range: she plays the sex kitten, loving wife, detached mother and determined individual for a story of one woman?s fight to regain control of her life and herself.

- Katherine Geiger

Film sponsored by the Applied Materials Foundation.