Summaries

Synopsis

An unnamed teen boy (Freek De Jonge, only referred to as "the Illusionist" in the closing credits) enters a dream-like sequence and sees himself as a performer in a dressing room. He shortly spots his mentally challenged brother, named Tjibbe (Jim van der Woude), in the mirror. He goes on stage to perform, but Tjibbe sabotages the performance by disconnecting the microphone. The illusionist is booed by the colorful audience and escapes through a large box. He suddenly sees a flashback of Tjibbe in a mental hospital.

Living in a windmill in rural The Netherlands, mother (Catrien Wolthuizen) is sewing, grandfather lies in bed and the Illusionist and his brother enjoy fishing with their father (Gerard Thoolen). During praying before dinner, Tjibbe is swatting flies and carefully collects and cleans their dead bodies.

Tjibbe is teased and attacked by children in the nearby village. The Illusionist rescues him from his tormentors using his bicycle. At night, mother steals money from the bedridden grandfather who is sleeping.

The family visits a magic show and the Illusionist sneaks a peek backstage at the charming lady assistant. His father and brother join him but they are sent away. During the show the Illusionist falls in love with the assistant and decides he wants to be a magician himself.

Tjibbe is invited from the audience to have his head boxed and pierced with daggers as part of the show. The Illusionist in his innocence runs on stage to rescue his brother but then realizes it's just a magic trick.

In bed, the Illusionist has erotic fantasies while watching a photograph of the magicians assistant. While the Illusionist is distracted by their mother, Tjibbe destroys the photograph. The Illusionist fails to see any jealousy in this action, and with a quick magic trick produces a new photograph.

While playing in a field, the Illusionist again has erotic fantasies. Tjibbe, nearby, scares a little girl by making funny faces at her, angering the girls family. He flees and looks for his brother. After finding him, the Illusionist tries to comfort him with a hug. Tjibbe however strengthens the hug and it slowly becomes a strangling.

The little girls angered family catch up, break up the strangling and beat up Tjibbe. The Illusionist regains his breath and again consoles his brother. Returning home, the girls family have reported the incident to the boys parents. Mother immediately prepares a suitcase with clothes.

While the Illusionist is practicing magic tricks, the camera zooms into a diorama and shows a vision of the Illusionist in a field. Two doctors appear and take Tjibbe away to a mental hospital. Father cries realizing his son is gone.

The Illusionist travels by bus to visit Tjibbe even though mother and father try to prevent this. He fantasizes again about the magicians assistant. While entering the city, he witnesses a deadly traffic accident in front of a billboard that shows that exact same accident. A painter adds the line "God is love" to the billboard.

In a dream sequence, the Illusionist flirts backstage with the magicians assistant and shows her some magic tricks he has learned. The lady rejects him and suddenly disappears. A colorful group of performers starts to follow him and make fun of him while he attempts to entertain them. He escapes by climbing a thick rope.

Mother, who has been looking for the Illusionist, finds his broken glasses and cries while he descends the rope. She is happy to see he's okay and joins him in visiting Tjibbe at the mental hospital. When they find him, Tjibbe is provoked by mother, starts strangling her and is taken away by nurses.

While wandering through the hospital, the Illusionist finds out that the institution performs lobotomies to treat patients. Mother takes him home and they discover that father has hanged himself. At the funeral, the Illusionist has a flashback about the lobotomies at the institution and decides to run away to rescue Tjibbe.

He sneaks onto the hospital roof and through a window spots Tjibbe, who is entertaining other patients. All of the patients have scars or bandages on their foreheads, as has Tjibbe. Mother suddenly appears and she and Tjibbe spot the Illusionist through the window. Tjibbe wants to move towards his brother but is taken away by nurses. The Illusionist is taken home by mother.

Back home, mother dresses up as the magicians lady assistant and tries to get attention from the Illusionist, showing that she too is now deranged. She places the "box of knives" trick on her own head. After shortly ignoring her, the illusionist gives in and pushes one of the knives into the box, killing her.

Startled by this, he runs away while the windmill starts to fall apart. Grandfather, who happens to be on TV singing in a choir, waves to the camera as the windmill collapses.

The Illusionist returns to the dream-like sequence from the beginning of the film, entering the box he used to escape it. Again he has flashbacks of the institution performing lobotomies, and has a vision of an audience in a movie theatre watching his own strangling by his brother.

He returns to the institution once more and finds his brother. He falls over in the mud gaining a head injury. Tjibbe picks him up and they walk onto a stage where they are both applauded by an audience. In a confused state they enter a dressing room. Tjibbe takes care of the Illusionists head wound and removes his own lobotomy scar, revealing that it is a fake.

The Illusionist now starts to strangle Tjibbe as the sound of their laughing father can be heard. A fly on the family photo is swatted, breaking the photo frame.