The Conductor aka De Dirigent, written and directed by Maria Peters - Nine out of 10

The Conductor aka De Dirigent, written and directed by Maria Peters

Nine out of 10

The Conductor is an impressive, notable achievement that adds to the furor created by movements like #MeToo and @TIMESUPNOW.

Christanne de Brujin is excellent as Antonia Brico – also called Willie for a while, subject of a joke on stage, when the singer of the band with which she performs asks her name and then says that since she was born with no “willy”, her parents have decided to call her Willie.

The protagonist has been adopted, in fact sold by her biological mother – albeit it must be stated that this viewer was unable to understand parts of the film, since for some strange reason the original Dutch language is mostly replaced by English – accessible – but there are fragments where mysteriously, the incomprehensible becomes the norm and only guessing could work, for there were no subtitles.

Willie – for the part where this was her assumed name – works in a concert hall as an usher and as such, she is supposed to leave the premises once the performance is in progress, but she wants to dedicate her life to music and therefore does not want to go outside, given that her only reason for working there – and indeed, it will become apparent later, for her life – is to listen to the music and learn for her future incredible career.

There is no seat and besides, she wants to sit near the front, she wants to see the Conductor at work and thus she takes a folding chair and sits on it, right in the front row, between the regular lines of chairs, to the astonishment of the public and in particular of the Thomsen family.

These would have a love hate relationship with the heroine, who is summoned by Frank Thomsen, the young, handsome man who has a managing position at the concert hall and she is summarily dismissed as a consequence of her bold, outrageous – for the pretentious fat cats – act.

The young woman has to try to find a job, so she tries various ads, in one case she applies for the position of typist, after the exam she is told she has been fast, has short nails and made no mistakes, while the woman competing for the same post was the opposite, but…the latter gets the job!

This was a tad funny, although intriguing, for there would be suggested throughout the film that the protagonist is not altogether splendid – this would be the reason why the sensual typist who made mistakes, was slow and had long nails was preferred in spite of her professional shortcomings, but on account of her looks, she had an unfair advantage – if we disconsider studies that demonstrate that to this day, those who are better looking, get the best opportunities and are preferred when there are interviews.

Another category that gains in competition would be the very tall – you could read the quintessential Blink – the Power of thinking Without Thinking by the outstanding Malcolm Gladwell and you find about The Harding Effect and the impact it has at the very top of the Fortune 500 companies and elsewhere.

The heroine is helped to get a job – and in difficult circumstances later – by Robin Jones – the one who appears to be man for about half of the feature – who plays the piano with great talent, but prefers to use another instrument in the band, which is invited soon to the mansion of the Thomsen family, where Mr. Thomsen is kind and hospitable, while his wife is and will remain rude to the very end.

Frank Thomsen was initially infuriated by the gesture of the woman that sat right next to the orchestra, but he is soon infatuated and enraptured, although bewildered and amazed, like the others, when during a meal, asked by the famed conductor she had wanted to “study” about her future career, the brave, Wonder Woman states that she wants to be…a Conductor.

This is not possible, it is the unanimous conviction, furthermore, most of those present are almost horrified by the proposition, which must surely indicate a mental illness, a derangement of some sort, for there is no woman conductor and the man who has this privileged position is sure that women are not able to achieve this sublime status and this desire is ridiculous.

Nevertheless, this is an Outlier, a courageous, perseverant, strong, determined, wondrous, self- possessed woman who would not stop at anything, she listens in the park to a band, walks to the conductor and tells him that the trumpets – actually it was another instrument, but this is what comes to mind – took a false note, it should have been something else and to the surprise of the man, when he studies the notes she was right.

What is more, he says that she does know about the trumpets – or whatever they were – but she replies that she knows all the instruments and the respective notes and then adds that she wants to study the piano with him, for he is a professor – he would reluctantly agree, only to help and then cause her great disservice and affect her career in a very negative way.

Antonia Brico decides to use her real name from one point on and she even tries to tell her story to a very obnoxious, repulsive Mrs. Thomsen (who is very concerned and opposed to the intimacy, god forbid marriage of her son with this “commoner) only to be interrupted and insulted with vain, money comments made by a wealthy, vile character.

Eventually, the heroine would convince a good conductor to teach her, she would find the stamina, talent, bravery, grit to lead an orchestra, but she would still be discriminated against and would have to fight almost everybody, with the exception of a few friends, including musicians.

In one remarkable instance, a violinist is ready to abandon just before the major concert that needs to take place the following day, stating that he does not want to take any more orders from a woman, to which the majestic Conductor takes his instrument away, only to be warned that it is a Stradivarius, so she explains that just as that invaluable violin is the instrument, the orchestra is her instrument and to deprive it of it is exactly as he would be without his precious Stradivarius.

She also demonstrates a rule that we find in Outliers, by the aforementioned genius Malcolm Gladwell, when she says that a musician that does not rehearse for one day will have himself to notice it, if he does not practice for two days, the orchestra will know and then if he stops for three days, the audience will notice – ten thousand hours of exercise over ten years, could bring you to the level of the Conductor, in your own field.