Elias or the Fight with the Nightingales

Elias or the Fight with the Nightingales (1991)

Drama

Set on the eve of World War I, this poetic coming-of-age drama follows Elias, a sensitive twelve-year-old dreamer living on an isolated country estate. Raised by an eccentric, overprotective family detached from reality, Elias finds refuge in nature and his vivid imagination to escape his internal struggles. His fragile childhood bubble is shattered when he learns he will soon be sent away to a strict boarding school. During his final summer at home, Elias experiences a bittersweet emotional awakening shaped by three relatives: his older cousin and close companion Aloysius, his young cousin Hermine, who harbors a subtle infatuation for him, and his beautiful, melancholic Aunt Henriette, who serves as a dramatic muse. Based on Maurice Gilliams’ modernist classic, the film is a nostalgic, melancholic portrait of a boy forced to leave his idyllic fantasies behind and face the adult world.

Director: Klaas Rusticus

Casts

	Brikke Smets as Elias
	Jimmi de Koning as Aloysius
	Lotte Pinoy as Hermine
	Bien de Moor as Tante Henriette
	Viviane de Muynck as Tante Zenobie
	Roland Ramaekers as Oom Augustin
	Toon Brouwers as Vader
	Marie-Louise Conings as Huishoudster
	Mia Van Roy as Moeder
	Cara Van Wersch as Grootmoeder

Crew