Holland is the new film by director Mimi Cave, who made the interesting horror film Fresh a few years ago. This film borrows heavily from other material, like Don’t Worry Darling and Blue Velvet. While it looks impressive, and the cast works well, the whole thing is a mess that needs a director with more experience to keep things together.

Nancy Vandergroot is a homemaker living in Holland, Michigan, a place that copies its namesake, from the tulips to the clogs to some of the residents talking Dutch. Nancy’s life seems perfect until she suspects her husband, Fred, is having an affair. Pulling in outsider and woodwork teacher Dave, the pair starts hunting for clues to Fred’s second life, causing the pair to fall in love. Yet the deeper they get with their investigation, the darker things get.

Cave’s film is set in a fascinating place that does play out as an extra character. This is a slice of small-town America that is trapped in another country. Holland in this film is like the small-town setting that David Lynch loved. You should feel safe, but a dark underbelly is waiting to explode. Hence, it is easy to compare this to Lynch’s excellent Blue Velvet or Twin Peaks. The locals all know each other but are oblivious to anything happening underneath the Dutch costumes and simplicity of their lives.

Yet the film does lose control. It starts off with plenty of intrigue as Nancy discovers clues that she believes her husband may be having an affair. Like an amateur, Jessica Fletcher is determined to dig into his private life to find the truth. Having formed a friendship with fellow teacher Dave, she convinces him to help her with her often madcap ideas. Yet the pair seem perfect for each other. Both seem lost souls in a place where anyone from the outside would feel alone.

Yet Cave and screenwriter Andrew Sodroski have trouble keeping a simple plot on the straight and narrow. Instead, it rambles on with too much plotting, causing far too many questions and plot holes, making it tricky to be affected by the events happening to the leads. It throws up some fascinating ideas, but they just don’t gel, and by the final act, you care less for the characters, leaving you with far too many unanswered questions. You throw your arms up by the final act, exclaiming that you have given up.

The real issue is with Cave’s direction. In the hands of a skilled filmmaker, this could have been a cracking thriller, but she hasn’t had the experience yet to produce this level of movie compared to the likes of Lynch or even Brian De Palma. This is a film that Alfred Hitchcock could have made with his eyes closed, and it would have been a minor masterpiece, but Cave struggles with keeping the tension. Using a mix of bizarre needle drops and a score that intrudes more than aids just drags the film down, and there were moments when looking at the watch did occur, which just shows how much it keeps the attention.

As Nancy, Nicole Kidman is fine as the quiet, almost innocent housewife whose suspicions are growing while she is virtually parallelling the same crimes she is accusing her husband of. Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal is also decent as Dave, the man who falls for Nancy’s charms. British actor Matthew McFadyen, award-winner for Succession and Mr Darcy in the film version of Pride and Prejudice, scores highly as the mysterious Fred, a man who seems all sweetness and caring, but is there something not right.

Holland is a could-have-been film. It’s a movie with plenty of promise, but it’s a sad story of style over substance. If you choose to watch it, it could be one of those films that infuriates more than pleases.

2 out of 5

Director: Mimi Cave

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Gael Garcia Bernal, Matthew McFadyen, Jude Hill, Jeff Pope, Isaac Krasner, Lennon Parham, Rachel Sennott

Written by Andrew Sodroski

Running Time: 110 mins

Cert: 18

Release date: 27th March 2025 (Amazon Prime)