Marleen Gorris

A gifted Dutch director and screenwriter whose small output has made a considerable international splash, Marleen Gorris has managed to make substantial feminist statements in her work by finding relevant political issues and recognizable, everyday wisdoms in the extreme plot situations her films detail. Her filmmaking skills are undeniable, yet her visual style often seems deceptively straightforward; similarly, her means of storytelling are clear and sensible, and yet by the time her various narrative threads come together, profound ambiguities have arisen. The emotional gamut of her work, meanwhile, ranges from the tender and mellow to the gruesomely horrific to the hilariously ironic, yet her work remains remarkably accessible, and the palpable anger in much of her oeuvre may be provocative, but it is not off-putting. Indeed, Gorris' primary talent may be her considerable ability to juggle the complexities of the questions her films raise.