De jaren

In De jaren, five actresses collectively tell the story of one woman's life, against the backdrop of a rapidly changing world. She grows up amidst the debris of the Second World War, disentangles herself from her middle-class environment and becomes a writer with a sharp political and social awareness. Using photos, songs and news reports, she talks about emancipation, being a woman, sexuality, class differences and individual opportunities. In separate scenes, musical, happy and melancholic memories are evoked. By following one life, we see the world change. The hyper-personal history of a French woman thus becomes a universal biography of post-war Western Europe. After the highly acclaimed Weg met Eddy Bellegueule and Yerma, director Eline Arbo once again creates a very personal and political performance.

'All images will disappear. Death erases everything in a second and so we have to save something from the time where we will never be again.'

-|-After the award-winning book by Annie Ernaux
De jaren is the prize-winning and critically acclaimed masterpiece by French author Annie Ernaux. De Standaard der Letteren called it a "dazzling history of a time and of a life". For director Eline Arbo, it is dream material. The book brings together the two lines that she explores in her work, on the one hand the 'sociological' view of Weg met Eddy Bellegueule (2020) and on the other hand the powerful women as protagonists of De uren (2021) and Yerma (2021).

text and direction Eline Arbo
based on the book by Annie Ernaux
translation Rokus Hofstede
cast Mariana Aparicio, Nettie Blanken, Tamar van den Dop, Hannah Hoekstra, June Yanez regie-assistent Ludy Golstein
set Juul Dekker
costumes Rebekka Wörmann
-|-light Varja Klosse
music Thijs van Vuure
dramaturg Willemijn Barelds
campaign image Gordon Meuleman
cast replacement: the role of Antoinette Jelgersma is taken over by Nettie Blanken due to family circumstances.