‘Holly’ Review: A Teenage Girl Becomes Aware of Her Power in an Intriguing Belgian Drama

Leslie Felperin
·4 min read

Holly, a 15-year-old girl, appears to develop clairvoyance and magical healing powers — or does she? — in Belgian director Fien Troch’s intriguing, ambiguous fifth feature, Holly. Anchored by a charismatic yet impressively subtle lead performance by Cathalina Geeraerts, the film flirts with different genres, and at various stages looks poised to emerge as a teen-themed horror show like Carrie or a didactic dramatization of the evils of bullying. Ultimately it ends up being neither of those things and evolves into a sly black comedy about the impossibility of truly unselfish altruism.

That tonal complexity may make it a little harder to love for audiences who crave easy answers, rootable-for characters and cut-and-dry moral dilemmas, but this should find its own niche on the festival circuit and beyond.

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In a suburban Belgian town where Flemish is the more dominant language, Holly lives with her alcoholic mother (Els Deceukilier) and sister Dawn (Maya Louisa Sterkendries) in an ugly tower-block apartment, the teens’ father nowhere in sight. Holly’s only friend, apart from Dawn, is a classmate named Bart, who appears to have autism given his stilted speech patterns and literal-mindedness (he’s played by Felix Heremans, who is himself neurodiverse and a natural-born comic actor). Holly and Bart are often teased and mocked by their classmates, especially a clique of confident girls who seem to consider them “weird,” but the duo seem largely unfazed by the verbal bullying. Or at least Bart is — Holly seems more depressed, as if she has internalized the other kids’ criticisms.

One morning, she calls the school to report that she won’t be coming in that day because she’s sick, full of a sense that something bad is going to happen. Moments later, she looks out the window and sees smoke billowing out of where her high school is a few blocks away; a fire has broken out, and 10 students die in the blaze.

Nine months later, the school is collectively still processing the tragedy. Teacher Anna (Greet Verstraete), whose husband (Serdi Faki Alici) is a janitor at the school, heard about Holly’s phone call on the day of the fire and becomes convinced that the teenager might have special powers. She invites Holly to help out on a special field trip of remembrance for the family members who lost kids in the fire, and despite the fact that the teen is a shy kid who hides behind her curtain of auburn hair, she shows a natural aptitude for comforting people. After being hugged by Holly, several parents report that they do actually feel better, and before long word gets out that she has some kind of faith healing-like ability.

Holly herself seems taken aback by her sudden popularity, but eventually can’t see any reason why she should refuse when people start to offer her money in gratitude for her services. Anna, however, who has been trying unsuccessfully to get pregnant with fertility treatment, gets more judgmental of Holly when she notices Holly is wearing a new necklace, fancy new sneakers and a new puffer jacket. What’s more, she’s jealous when Holly manages to console Anna’s traumatized, guilt-ridden husband, who believes his failure to act in time led to the students’ deaths.

Troch explains in the film’s publicity notes that the script grew out of a desire to make a comedy using scenes and ideas left over from some of her earlier films (Home, Kid, Unspoken and Someone Else’s Happiness), but the only component that survived the development process was the character of Holly. Still, the ghost of an earlier, piecemeal organization persists here with slightly comic, slightly odd scenes that don’t sit easily inside a movie about dead teenagers. Nevertheless, there is a very funny bit involving Bart being told to stand outside his classroom by a teacher after he’s been disruptive, then getting sent back into the classroom by a cleaner polishing the floor, only to get sent out again by the teacher, and so on.

Troch elicits breezily naturalistic performances from the young cast. Thanks to Frank van den Eeden’s flare-rich cinematography and synth-led sound of Johnny Jewel’s soundtrack, there’s a vibe here that recalls Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides — another film about troubled kids with dreamy music and plenty of beautifully backlit pretty girls with long hair.

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