Ger Beukenkamp

One hour before the State Opening of Parliament, something very unusual happens. The Prime Minister appears and demands an adjustment to the Queen's speech. The speech concerns aid to Africa. Even with all the pressure around the State Opening, Beatrix goes back in time, and remembers her banishment to Canada, the visit to the victims of the Flood disaster and the turbulence suffered by her parents at Palace Soestdijk during the Hofman case.

Dutch filmmakers gathered to make this compilation movie, consisting of 17 segments, as a reaction to the status quo in The Netherlands after the assassination of filmmaker Theo van Gogh on november 2, 2004.

Edward Schneider is asked to sing the St Matthew Passion in Amsterdam's Concertgebouw. This is a great opportunity for him to avenge the eternal mockery to which he is subjected. However what no one sees is that the is having trouble with himself. He is not able to come to terms with the music of Bach and sing it credibly. Then there is Schneider's prostitute, Miriam. While she despises her client, she is also financially dependent on him. Miriam is also at a turning point in her life through her battles with her daughter, who does not have much respect for her mother's profession.

Ludovic, a young boy neglected by his artsy parents, falls in love with Sophie, the daughter of a piano teacher. They meet in secret places in the city. Not long after Sophie's father finds them naked together in her room, Ludovic is sent away to spend time with his grandparents. Sophie runs away from home to join him, and they hide along the seashore and in abandoned buildings. After they are found, their parents try to keep them separate, but they both fall into deep depressions.