Synopsis

To celebrate his promotion to senior police officer, Nordin and his girlfriend Luna try to bake ’the perfect cake, for the perfect night’. What starts as a fun and affectionate activity, slowly changes into a toxic cycle of emotional and physical abuse, in which the two struggle with their boundaries and self-control. While Nordin and Luna try to fight this inevitable storm, the situation threatens to spin out of control more than ever. 

Director’s Statement

In 2018, I met Luna during a blind date event. We immediately had a strong connection, and felt very much attracted to each other. Our love was intense and profound. I thought that I had found ‘the one’. Until Luna, after a fun night out, suddenly kicked me in my stomach.

After this first incident, we were together for six more months. I later realized more clearly that during this time, I was being emotionally and physically abused. The last time that I saw her, I ran towards a taxi as I fled her house because of a fight that got way out of hand. It was only after I ended up crying on my parent’s sofa, that I realized how far I had gotten myself into this impossible situation. 

When I told my family and friends what happened, most of them almost could not believe it. Some of them started laughing awkwardly. I felt deeply ashamed and weak. Why did I stay with her for so long, only to let myself get treated horribly? This question bothered me for a long time, and made me question my identity and self-worth.

And so, it came that I started to write: to understand myself and the situation better. At first, I only saw Luna as the perpetrator, and myself as the victim in this story.  But during the writing process, I learned that the situation was not as black and white. I learned that my ex-girlfriend also suffered a lot from het depressed feelings. The emotions that she could not control, displayed themselves in a destructive way towards me and herself. And that, because of the complicated nature of the situation, I shifted my own boundaries unnoticed, which allowed her to shift hers too. This way, we kept each other prisoner, in a cycle that was only getting worse.

Nowadays we are redefining our boundaries: our emotional, physical and sexual boundaries with strangers, colleagues, superiors, but also within our relationships. What do we do when our boundaries are crossed? Or when we cross them ourselves? Even by or with the ones we love the most. What happens when we let our boundaries go, because we believe to love someone deeply?

With this observatory film, I want to show the complexity of an abusive relationship, and the feeling of helplessness that comes along with it. By doing so, I hope for the viewer to reflect on their own experiences and boundaries within their relationships. 

Because, even when we love someone very much, and you really want to hold on… there are always boundaries that you should protect, and that should never be crossed. 

Angelo Raaijmakers

Writer & director of A Perfect Night