Theo van Gogh is the enfant terrible of contemporary Dutch film. After completing his first feature, Luger, at the age of 22, he has since made four more films, including the controversial sado-masochistic tale No Potatoes. Not one to gather much support from the audience, nor the industry, because of his uncompromising personality, Van Gogh has nonetheless garnered continued financing from the Dutch Production Fund, for he is a unique talent. Adapted from Jan Wolkers' novel, Return to Oegstgeest tells of a young boy's growing up in a severely Calvinist family. His mother begets "brats" like there's no tomorrow and his shopkeeper father keeps a tight tether on the family's passions. In the meantime, the boy is fascinated by reptiles and plants, as he tries to bring life into an airless home. Building the story from quirky details, Van Gogh frames scenes for their brooding, yet timidly comic qualities. Still, there is a touching realism to it all: "The fear and fantasy of the young Jan has been beautifully filmed; every time there is a close-up of the boy and you look at his huge eyes and open mouth, you see a real child taking in all those strange things and bottling them up" (François de Waal). Return to Oegstgeest is an imaginative work about living in one's imagination.