It takes lots of love, patience, empathy, and perseverance to maintain a friendship over the long haul. So many unforeseen events can pull friends apart. And some people are just not able to care and commit to anyone but their partner. This wonderful Belgian film is based on a true story which covers the relationship of three women from the Netherlands who meet on a plane heading from London, England, to Christchurch, New Zealand in 1953. They are part of what is called a "Bride Flight" as they all have fiancés waiting for them. Their quest for happiness is something we can all identify with.

Imagine the drama and adventure of starting a completely new life in an exotic faraway place. Esther (Anna Drijver) is a flashy, attractive, and aggressive fashion designer who knows how to charm and handle men. She immediately notices Frank (Waldemar Torenstra), a handsome rancher, but he is more interested in Ada (Karina Smulders), a pretty, shy farm girl who is afraid of flying. He comforts her during some turbulence. Later, awakening from sleep, she finds herself draped across his body. Marjorie (Elise Schaap) is a dreamer who has visions of a beautiful home and a happy family gathered around her.

Each woman brings the baggage of the past to their fresh start in New Zealand: Esther's Holocaust experiences, Ada's forced engagement to the man who is awaiting her, and Marjorie's close ties to her family. We watch their lives unfold in their new homeland. Ada's pious and thrifty husband moves them into a World War II bunker and they have their first child. Esther frees herself from any commitments to marriage and savors her sexual freedom as she tries to find success as a designer of women's clothes. Marjorie is distraught when she learns that she won't be able to have children. But she is pleasantly surprised when she learns that Esther is pregnant and wants Marjorie and her husband to take her baby.

Meanwhile Ada secretly keeps up with Frank through letters. When her jealous husband finds them, he explodes in rage and humiliates her through a hearing conducted by members of a Puritanical religious community he supports. Ada flees to Frank's ranch and is on hand when he and his partner inaugurate a new wine. Then she is compelled to decide which man to live with for the rest of her life.

Years later these three women meet once again at Frank's funeral. They try, as best they can, to deal with the unfinished business in their past.

Bride Flight is directed by Ben Sombogaart from an emotionally vibrant screenplay by Marieke van der Pol. This fluid and well-acted film is an immensely satisfying drama which captures and conveys the joys of sexual pleasures, the disappointments that ensue when we expect too much, the jealousy which grows like a weed out of our own insecurity, the masochistic choices we make in trying to hold to societal standards, and the drawbacks to a life of independence when what we should be honoring is our dependence of others.

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