Alles komt ergens van

Dutch actor Gerard Thoolen (1943-1996) always dreamed of a "home theater": a place where he could cook and friends would always be welcome to stop in to eat, talk, drink, sing and act. Director Pieter Verhoeff invited Thoolen's friends, family and colleagues to a big house in the Dutch seaside resort of Bergen aan Zee, to prepare a meal and reminisce about Thoolen's life and work. Everything Has a Reason presents a plethora of film excerpts, photographs, letters and memorabilia. Meditative and melancholic moments alternate with exuberant play: there's laughter and crying, like there should be in a theatrical ambiance, but sometimes Thoolen's painful and obnoxious qualities pop up as well. His futile search for true love, his yearning for a family life, his reckless behavior, his ecstatic and depressive periods, a life spent wandering, seeking. In short, the tragedy of a man with great talent who vainly tried to avoid his fate. But at last his dream comes true: there's playing, eating and singing, all in honor of Gerard Thoolen. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)