Ladies of a certain age who lunch will want to make a beeline after ward for the venerable Paris Theatre, where the new attraction is “Bride Flight” — the kind of lush, epic romantic weepie that Hollywood used to deliver on a regular basis for packed matinees at Radio City Music Hall.
This one may be in Dutch and has a couple of soft-core sex scenes, but it still fits the bill.
The death of an elderly playboy vintner (Rutger Hauer, about as far as he could get from the recent “Hobo With a Shotgun”) in New Zealand unleashes a flood of teary flashbacks from three old ladies whose lives (and sometimes more) he touched long, long ago.
The trio were refugees from World War II and a devastating flood on a (real-life) record-setting 1946 Dutch flight from London to Christchurch, New Zealand.
It was dubbed the “bride flight” by the press because so many of the women had bridegrooms already waiting for them in their new home.
Farm-girl Ada (Karina Smulders) is already preggers, but that doesn’t deter her from a romantic stopover in Karachi with the hunky youthful version of Hauer’s character (Waldemar Torenstra).
Holocaust survivor Esther (Anna Drijver) quickly dumps her would-be bridegroom. But she, too, quickly becomes pregnant. Guess who’s the daddy?
Rather than endure being ostracized as an unwed mother, and wanting to pursue a fashion career, Esther gives the baby to the third member of the trio — Marjorie (Elise Schaap), who’s infertile — and her husband.
As the years roll by, Esther endures guilt because her son isn’t being raised as a Jew. Marjorie grows uncomfortable about their relationship.
And Ada, who has several kids by this point, is having a torrid affair with the guy from the plane. Her religiously devout husband (Micha Hulsof) eventually discovers this with fairly explosive results.
All of the men are dead by the time the women — played by Willeke van Ammelrooy (Esther), Petra Laseur (Marjorie) and Pleuni Touw (Ada) — gather for one last reunion at the funeral, decades later.
Dutch director Ben Sombogaart, who makes ample use of gorgeous New Zealand scenery, holds your interest for more than two hours. And, if my experience is any indication, guys who wander into “Bride Flight” may be wiping away a tear or two at the end.