37. MEET THE FOKKENS

that is NOT a misspelling.  this is a film about twin sisters, 69 yrs old, who have been Amsterdam prostitutes for nearly 50 years.  they are aged, overweight, pink cheeked, white haired women now.  they seem to live separately, but spend a lot of time with each other.  louise had to give up the business a couple years ago because of arthritis "i couldn't get one leg to cross over the other"; martine is still at it, sitting in her red window in the red light district and imploring would-be customers to come in.  we see some of her work, mostly focused on men of a certain age, and with a theme of mild dominatrix.  it is unbelievable that with all the other young, shapely women we see in neighboring windows that martine still gets enough work.  we learn she can't live adequately on her state pension.  we learn it was her abusive husband who essentially forced her into the work, despite having 2 small children.  we learn of her regret at choosing to do the work her husband demanded she do and risking loss of her children to foster care.  but, generally, these two woman laugh, play, tell stories from their years of work, eat, drink and make art.  in fact, the film ends shortly after a gallery exhibit of their art--heavy on both male and female anatomy.  in every scene except the work scenes the women are dressed in identical, brightly colored and patterned outfits.  they warmly greet those they meet on the street, many of whom we assume are past clients.  the film raises more questions than it answers, but moves quickly.  they are so delightful that we just watch and enjoy.  it almost makes you want to go to red light amsterdam and look them up!