De Regels van Matthijs

Marc Schmidt
Netherlands | 2012 | 70 min
World premiere
Language : Dutch
Subtitle : English

Matthijs, afflicted by autism, tries desperately to bring order to the chaos around him. His house is his world; there he finds peace and harmony. But when he has to make contact with the outside world, explosive confrontations occur. The filmmaker, his childhood friend, portrays him with detachment and fellow-feeling, including even the extreme consequences of his situation.

Matthijs, afflicted by autism, tries desperately to bring order to the chaos around him. A fragile young man, but of exceptional intelligence, he establishes a system for analysing and controlling every moment of his life. His house is his world. There he finds peace and harmony. But when he is obliged to make contact with the outside world (for example, when he decides to do jobs that might disturb his neighbours’ peace and quiet), explosive confrontations occur. He is aware of the gap between him and others, and of his bond with the filmmaker, with whom he has been friends since childhood. At the beginning of the film, we see them working out a contract to define their respective roles. From this point, Marc Schmidt films in close-up, alternating scenes of daily life with shots framing details of the house, accompanied by notes from Matthijs’s private diary. He portrays Matthijs with detachment and fellow-feeling, including even the extreme consequences of the way he lives his life.

Luciano Barisone

Translation BMP Translations

International Feature Film Competition

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