The Surprise concerns Jacob (Jeroen van Koningsbrugge), who at the start of the film isn’t even able to muster up any emotion for the death of his mother. Rather than continue to confront his inability to feel, the eccentric millionaire decides that he’s going to kill himself. After a few failed attempts, he discovers a company called Elysium, which offers a very unique service. He hires them to provide the circumstances of his death, which is to be kept a surprise. Though he is pleased with this arrangement, a budding relationship with Anne (Georgina Verbaan), a woman who is also availing of this service, is giving him second thoughts.
This is a pretty dark premise for what is essentially a romantic comedy. This is a film that somehow combines the concerns of falling in love with a discussion about the right of people to choose when and how they choose to leave this world. This is an uncomfortable mix that the movie exploits to great effect, the story moving through some murky material with surprisingly upbeat, European charm. It doesn’t really all work out in the end, but for a good long while, The Surprise provides a very unique romantic experience.
Key to the film is the sense that Jacob’s life, in spite of its opulence, is pretty empty. He just doesn’t care about anything, really, while the rest of the world seems so concerned about everything worldly. Jacob is vapid in a way, but the film makes a fairly convincing case for his ennui as it starts to show aspects of the world that are even more vapid. The premise provides interesting tension to what becomes a rather charming relationship. Jacob and Anne’s relationship blooms under the specter of death; the two nonplussed by typical concerns since they don’t have much time left anyway.
This results in a series of really unique scenes. It isn’t just any movie that might feature a romantic sequence that culminates in a truck barreling towards its protagonist. It certainly isn’t just any movie that might have those protagonists happy about the prospect. The film’s dark, deadpan humor is its greatest strength, the film finding its laughs within a very buttoned up context. It presents a life made laughable in its plainness, surrounding its characters in pristine surfaces and very neat, featureless clothing.
But the film kind of loses that in the end. It deploys a twist that doesn’t quite make sense, and it starts delivering a series of madcap hijinks. While it is nice to see the energy level go up, this last stretch doesn’t feel organic to the picture. It returns to something more interesting by the end, but the break in tone costs the film dearly. Deficiencies in the filmmaking are revealed as the movie starts to perk up. Jeroen van Koningbrugge is quite good in the lead, and he shares ample chemistry with Georgina Verbaan. The two build something pretty special in the quieter moments.
The Surprise gets points simply for being unique. It certainly recalls some other movies, but it goes much further in basically trying to make a case for euthanasia. That it manages to build a romance around that feels like a substantial feat. The film loses some appeal in the last portion, the whole thing just getting louder and broader as it presumably attempts to deliver a measure of climactic thrills. The film is better when it really sticks to the strangeness of its premise when it finds what it is that’s romantic between two people who are ready to die.
My Rating:
