The Over the Hill Band: The Movie

 

 

Synopsis

THE OVER THE HILL BAND is the latest picture by the producers of the 2008 Cannes Critics’ Week winner MOSCOW, BELGIUM.

THE OVER THE HILL BAND is the story of a seventy year old woman (Marilou Mermans) who used to sing in a girls band when she was much, much younger. After the death of her husband, she decides to go on stage again. She asks her rebel son – down and out R&B musician Sid (Jan Van Looveren) - to help her start a new band with two girlfriends from the old days. Sid would rather drown in the North Sea than sharing the stage with mommy dearest, but in the end he agrees. On one condition: it has to be his music...

THE OVER THE HILL BAND is a dramatic comedy directed by Geoffrey Enthoven (THE ONLY ONE). The screenplay is written by Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem (MOSCOW, BELGIUM) and Chris Craps (CRUSADE IN JEANS). Pascal Garnier and Stef Caers wrote swinging RNB versions of some classic pop tunes.

Actors Marilou Mermans and Jan Van Looveren are joined by Lucas Vanden Eynde, Lut Tomsin, Lea Couzin, Barbara Sarafian, Greg Timmermans, Jurgen Delnaet and François Beukelaars in supporting roles.
THE OVER THE HILL BAND was released theatrically in Belgium on August 19th 2009.

This website was created to promote the movie THE OVER THE HILL BAND in the US. Unfortunately the American market did not react warmly towards the film with Rottan Tomatoes giving it an All critics Tomatometer of 38% and an audience score of 45%. Perhaps it was the first half of the film that turned off most viewers. Despite the really clunky plot establishment, there are some legitimate surprises to eventually be revealed. I felt that it was a memorable film, if perhaps a slight one which is why when I recently discovered that the domain was available, so I bought it with the goal of recreating as much of its original content as possible from archived pages. I did not want someone else to purchase the theoverthehillband.com domain and re-purpose the site for something that had nothing in common with the original website.

I remember when I saw the movie in the US. It was 2011 and I was in NYC meeting with a large company to discuss their janitorial needs. The e-commerce company I work for sells industrial janitorial supplies. Many of their products, but not all, are environmentally friendly product which are free from harsh chemical fumes or chemical residue or 100 recyclable, or in the case of paper products are free of inks, dyes and fragrances. Take for example their bulk paper towels. I recommend Marcal Pro 2 Ply Kitchen Paper Roll Towels, 30 Rolls per Case. These roll towels have 100% recycled content, are whitened without chlorine bleaching, have no dyes or fragrances added and are virtually lint-free. I tend to pitch our green eco -friendly products first since I believe they are better for ourselves and our planet. However, since going green can sometimes seem to cost more in the short run, if the person I am meeting with stresses cost as their most important factor, I also mention our regular janitorial products which are not environmentally friendly. SO I was in NYC, had had a successfful appointment resulting in a large order. I decided to celebrate and go to the movies, which is where I saw THE OVER THE HILL BAND.

Please be indulgent, if the site is not exactly as you remember it.

CAST / CHARACTERS

MARILOU MERMANS
Claire
“In the movie, Claire, my character, says that sometimes when she looks in the mirror she wonders who's the old bat that’s gaping back at her. Under that layer of old skin, Claire still feels like a girl of seventeen. That’s what THE OVER THE HILL BAND is about,” says Marilou Mermans who, at twenty, mesmerized many young Flemish viewers as the beautiful Lady Isabeau in FABIAN VAN FALLADA, one of the first historical adventure series created by Flemish National Television. Marilou also appeared in major Flemish drama series such as LILI & MARLEEN and FAMILIE. She played the lead in the well received feature film SWEET JAM by Lieven Debrauwer and more recently played supporting roles in CUT LOOSE by Jan Verheyen and the acclaimed drama series VAN VLEES EN BLOED. “Next year I will celebrate my 50th anniversary as an actress. I’m very lucky to be asked to portray such a beautiful woman in THE OVER THE HILL BAND! Looking back, playing Claire was one of the toughest parts I played in my whole career. I had to sing, dance and act, all at the same time. And it’s been… wonderful!”

JAN VAN LOOVEREN
Sid
“I didn’t feel very comfortable about playing the part of Sid. He’s an R&B musician who hit rock bottom, and who wants to look cool and burly. Sid’s character is very close to the television role of ‘Joeri’ that most people in Belgium know, so I made sure to leave out all his ticks and tricks so that Sid could become a genuine guy.” Jan Van Looveren previously starred in the Flemish crime series ZONE STAD and  in drama series such as KAAT & CO and TRIGGER HAPPY. He now enjoys huge popularity as the sweet macho host of the satirical television show M!LF (MAN LIBERATION FRONT). THE OVER THE HILL BAND is his first feature film.  “Sid is a guy who drinks and smokes a lot more than any doctor would recommend. It was challenging to act this role in a subtle way. Smoking in particular has been a hard one. I’ve never even touched a cigarette.”

LEA COUZIN
Magda
“I was so nervous about the dancing scenes. Usually I only dance when I’ve had a bit too much to drink, and only in front of my husband (winks). But you would never catch me dancing in public because I cannot distinguish left from right,” jokes Lea Couzin. Most people remember Lea’s title role in MERLINA, a classic detective series for children. In the 70’s, Lea moved to cabaret, and more recently continued her career in Flanders’ most popular sitcom FC DE KAMPIOENEN. THE OVER THE HILL BAND is her first feature film. “On the first day of shooting, the sound guy said that he wanted to record some sound and we all had to be quiet. We all held our breath for a minute, so the sound he actually recorded was silence. After a very intense minute he said he was ready and he, very seriously, thanked us all. I was perplexed. And you know what? He did that every single day of the shoot!” She laughs. “I have learnt so much just by being on that film-set. Because as you grow older, you realize there is a lot that you know nothing about.”

LUT TOMSIN
Lutgard
“Director Geoffrey Enthoven told me he had the perfect role for me: that of an old, dried-out church mouse,” jokes Lut. “I had worked with Geoffrey before on the Flemish drama series WITTEKERKE. He’s great with actors and a very sweet guy. So I knew I shouldn’t take his words too literally. One of the things I liked about THE OVER THE HILL BAND is that we had to speak in that very special Antwerp dialect. I was never allowed to do so on screen before.” THE OVER THE HILL BAND was shot in the middle of winter, and that’s something Lut will not easily forget. “When we were shooting the graveyard scene, we had to wait in the cold for hours. It was minus 5° Celsius. I was sure we wouldn’t live to tell.”

LUCAS VAN DEN EYNDE
Michel
“Even during rehearsals I knew that THE OVER THE HILL BAND would be a good picture. I was also pleasantly surprised when I heard the three leading ladies sing. It was clear that they had been rehearsing for months,” says Lucas Van Den Eynde who played the title role in the Flemish musical DAENS. Lucas Van den Eynde is a well known television actor who made fame in popular comedy shows MORGEN MAANDAG and HET EILAND. Lucas also had leading roles in the drama series CONGO, ASPE and VAN VLEES EN BLOED.  “In THE OVER THE HILL BAND, I play the role of Claire’s oldest son who can’t stand his young, irresponsible brother Sid. In one scene, an argument between the two brothers turns into a real fight. That was the most difficult scene I had to play. We had a stunt coordinator on the set who made sure that our fight looked very realistic but also that we would go home without major injuries”.

MICHEL ISRAEL
Artuur
“I had never played a role in Flemish before,” says French speaking actor Michel Israël, “and I was so scared that someone would tell me afterwards: look here, Michel, you weren’t too bad but nevertheless we had your voice dubbed by another actor. Luckily that didn’t happen. During rehearsal, Geoffrey told me that he wanted to include jokes about my French speaking background in the movie.” Michel Israël is an Italian born in Congo, Africa, and lives in Brussels. He performed in a wide range of plays and feature films including UN SECRET by French director Claude Miller. In THE OVER THE HILL BAND, Michel plays the womanizing church organ player Artuur, who joins Claire’s new band. “I couldn’t play the piano when we started shooting. So prior to each piano scene, musician Stef Caers would show me how to move my fingers. In the end I did quite well, but I wouldn’t dare to say that I’m ready to participate in next year’s Queen Elisabeth piano contest (grins).”

 

Other Credits

 

GEOFFREY ENTHOVEN
Director
Geoffrey Enthoven (1974) is a Ghent, Belgium KASK academy graduate. His graduation project DE AANSPREKER with Bert André received several awards and was shown in many countries. In 1999, he started the production company Fobic Films with partner Mariano Vanhoof. Their first feature film, CHILDREN OF LOVE (2001) was awarded the Ghent Film Festival Audience Award. Geoffrey produced the documentary A VOICE ON WINGS, and the short film A MESSAGE FROM OUTER SPACE. In 2006, Geoffrey directed his second feature film THE ONLY ONE written by Jaak Boon with octogenarian actor Nand Buyl as a cranky old man who refuses to give up his role in society. The film enraptured Belgian critics who awarded it their annual (André Cavens) Film Critics Award. His third feature HAPPY TOGETHER (2007) was a doom-laden tragedy on a family man who loses his job and runs out of options. Geoffrey also directed dozens of episodes of the massively popular Flemish drama novella SARA.

JEAN-CLAUDE VAN RIJCKEGHEM
SCreenwriter and producer
Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem (°1963) worked as a translator, movie distribution press and promotion manager, TV reporter and journalist, before founding movie production company “A Private View” in 1994.  He produced feature films THE BALL, SCIENCE FICTION, LONG WEEKEND, A PERFECT MATCH and (Cannes Critics’ Week winner) MOSCOW, BELGIUM. Together with Chris Craps he wrote the screenplays of THE BALL, SCIENCE FICTION and CRUSADE IN JEANS which won the national Dutch ‘Golden Calf’ Award for Best Dutch Feature Film in 2007. THE OVER THE HILL BAND is their 4th joint screenplay. Jean-Claude signed with Pierre De Clercq for the crowd pleasing A PERFECT MATCH, directed by Miel van Hoogenbemt. With Pat van Beirs, he wrote MOSCOW, BELGIUM which was directed by Christophe van Rompaey and went on to win 15 national and international awards, including an Award for Best Screenplay at the 2008 Cannes Critics’ Week. Jean-Claude and Pat also wrote an acclaimed historical novel and a graphic novel series.

CHRIS CRAPS
SCreenwriter
Chris Craps (°1960) is a Biology, Audiovisual Communication and Journalism graduate. For many years now, he is in charge of the film information pages of Belgian dailies Gazet van Antwerpen, Het Belang van Limburg and Metro. Chris co-wrote the screenplays of Flemish animation series ATOMIUM and TOM & TIM for Flemish national television.  With Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem, Chris scripted feature film THE BALL. Since then, Chris and Jean-Claude wrote the original screenplay of SCIENCE FICTION (directed by Dany Deprez) and adapted Thea Beckman’s classic time travel novel CRUSADE IN JEANS into a highly successful feature directed by Ben Sombogaart.

DRIES PHLYPO
Producer
Dries Phlypo (°1977) started his movie career as a projectionist in Bruges arthouse theatre LUMIERE, for which he also programmed the children’s movie section “Lessons in the dark’. Dries joined A Private View in 2004 and was Line Producer on LONG WEEKEND, A PERFECT MATCH and MOSCOW, BELGIUM. Dries Phlypo has produced three shorts: ROMANCE by Douglas Boswell (2005), MOMENT DE GLOIRE by Hendrik Moonen (2006) and Academy Award nominee TANGHI ARGENTINI by Guido Thys (2007).

GERD SCHELFHOUT
Director of photography
Gerd Schelfhout is a regular crew member on Director Geoffrey Enthoven’s pictures. He was Director of Photography on CHILDREN OF LOVE, THE ONLY ONE and HAPPY TOGETHER. He recently lensed Guy Goossens’ LIMO.

 

Festival Calendar

Montreal World Film Festival
Canada
August 27 - September 7, 2009
www.ffm-montreal.org

Internationales Filmfestival
Mannheim-Heidelberg
Germany
November 5 - 15, 2009
www.iffmh.de

 

More Background On TheOverTheHillBand.com

 

Introduction

TheOverTheHillBand.com is a lovingly reconstructed tribute website dedicated to the 2009 Belgian film The Over the Hill Band. Created by a devoted fan who secured the domain after it had become inactive, the site is a digital homage to a film that captured hearts with its tale of aging, reconciliation, and the unexpected joy of second chances. Though not a commercial blockbuster, the film has carved a niche in international cinema through its endearing characters and spirited narrative. This article explores the website and its cinematic namesake in rich detail — from production history and cast profiles to the social resonance of its themes and the motivations behind its preservation online.

Website Origin and Purpose

The origin of TheOverTheHillBand.com is uniquely rooted in personal passion. The current domain owner first saw the film in 2011 during a business trip to New York City. After concluding a successful meeting regarding eco-friendly janitorial supplies, he decided to unwind at a theater, where The Over the Hill Band was playing. The experience left a lasting impression, not because the film was a critical masterpiece, but because of its emotional sincerity and the life-affirming message that it carried.

Years later, discovering that the original domain for the film’s promotional website had expired, he purchased it himself. His primary motivation was to prevent the domain from being reappropriated for unrelated or commercial purposes, and to revive as much of the original content as possible from archived sources. This mission lends the site an air of digital preservation — part fan archive, part cultural conservancy project.

About the Film: A Belgian Dramatic Comedy

Synopsis

Directed by Geoffrey Enthoven, The Over the Hill Band is a Belgian dramatic comedy that was theatrically released on August 19, 2009. It tells the story of Claire, a seventy-year-old woman (played by Marilou Mermans) who, after the death of her husband, rekindles her youthful passion for singing. She attempts to reunite with her former bandmates and persuades her estranged son Sid (played by Jan Van Looveren), a down-and-out R&B musician, to help launch a new group. Sid reluctantly agrees, but only under the condition that the band will perform his style of music — not the nostalgic pop tunes of the past.

This tension between generations and musical styles provides the narrative thrust, but the real story lies in its warmth, its treatment of aging, and the rediscovery of joy in life’s later chapters.

Creative and Production Team

The film is a collaboration of Belgian cinema talents:

  • Director: Geoffrey Enthoven, known for Children of Love, The Only One, and Happy Together.

  • Screenwriters: Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem and Chris Craps.

  • Producers: Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem, Dries Phlypo.

  • Director of Photography: Gerd Schelfhout, a frequent collaborator of Enthoven.

The screenplay, described as both humorous and touching, was the fourth collaboration between van Rijckeghem and Craps. Their previous works, including Crusade in Jeans and Moscow, Belgium (winner of the 2008 Cannes Critics’ Week Award), demonstrate a consistent ability to blend lightheartedness with emotional depth.

Cast and Characters

Marilou Mermans as Claire

Claire is the heart of the story — a widowed woman who confronts old age not with resignation but with rebellion. Mermans delivers a performance of emotional complexity, channeling both the frailty and fire of a woman rediscovering her spirit.

Notable roles:

  • Lady Isabeau in Fabian van Fallada

  • Lead in Sweet Jam

  • Supporting roles in Cut Loose and Van Vlees en Bloed

Jan Van Looveren as Sid

Sid is Claire’s disillusioned son, a failed R&B musician resistant to sentimentality. Van Looveren manages to inject the character with just enough grit and vulnerability to make his eventual transformation believable.

Notable work:

  • Crime series Zone Stad

  • Kaat & Co, Trigger Happy

  • Host of M!LF (Man Liberation Front)

Lea Couzin as Magda

As one of Claire’s bandmates, Couzin brings both comedic timing and heartfelt charm. She was notably nervous about the film’s dance scenes but ultimately delivered a winning performance.

Notable work:

  • Star of children’s series Merlina

  • Sitcom FC De Kampioenen

Lut Tomsin as Lutgard

Tomsin portrays a seemingly mousy churchgoer who reveals a hidden flair for performance. Her character adds depth and humor to the trio’s dynamic.

Notable work:

  • Wittekerke drama series

Lucas Van Den Eynde as Michel

Michel is Claire’s older son and foil to Sid. The tension between the two provides some of the film’s most dramatic moments.

Notable work:

  • Daens musical

  • Series Congo, Aspe, Van Vlees en Bloed

Michel Israël as Artuur

Artuur is the charismatic organist who joins the band, adding a dose of mischievous charm. Despite not being fluent in Flemish, Israël’s performance was praised for its authenticity.

Notable work:

  • Un Secret (Claude Miller)

  • Stage actor from Brussels

Themes and Cultural Significance

At its core, The Over the Hill Band tackles several important themes:

1. Aging and Reinvention

The film explores how seniors often feel invisible or dismissed by society. Claire and her friends defy that invisibility by stepping back into the limelight.

2. Intergenerational Conflict

Sid and Claire represent different eras, musical tastes, and life philosophies. Their reconciliation mirrors real-world generational gaps in families and art.

3. Grief and Healing

Claire's journey begins with mourning her husband. Music becomes her means of emotional expression and healing.

4. Female Friendship and Empowerment

The band’s revival showcases enduring female camaraderie and mutual support.

Music and Soundtrack

An essential component of the film’s charm is its unique soundtrack. Composers Pascal Garnier and Stef Caers (also known as Gustaph, later of Eurovision fame) created R&B-infused versions of vintage pop songs. These arrangements breathe new life into classics, supporting the movie’s theme of rejuvenation.

Reception and Popularity

Belgian Reception

The film found modest success in Belgium, bolstered by a cast of familiar TV personalities and its accessible humor. It had respectable box office numbers and was well-received by local audiences, particularly older viewers.

International Reception

In contrast, its American reception was lukewarm. According to Rotten Tomatoes:

  • Critics Score: 38%

  • Audience Score: 45%

While the film was criticized for its slow opening and formulaic plot, several reviews also acknowledged its surprises and sincere performances. Over time, it gained a cult following — especially among fans of European cinema and stories centering on older characters.

Festival Presence

The film participated in several international festivals, including:

  • Montreal World Film Festival (Canada, Aug–Sept 2009)

  • International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg (Germany, Nov 2009)

Though it did not garner major awards abroad, its inclusion in these festivals expanded its visibility.

Legacy and Revival Efforts

Cultural Memory

While The Over the Hill Band may not have become a staple of international film canons, its message endures — aging does not mean fading away. The movie has been used in various academic and therapeutic settings to discuss elder empowerment and creative aging.

The Website’s Role

By reviving TheOverTheHillBand.com, the site owner has preserved a piece of modern Belgian film history. In doing so, they’ve also created a digital space for others who remember the movie — however faintly — to reconnect with its message.

The site includes:

  • Cast and crew bios

  • Anecdotes from behind the scenes

  • Production insights

  • Screenshots and archival material

  • Historical context and festival info

Environmental Subtext

Interestingly, the website’s owner also uses the site to subtly promote eco-conscious janitorial supplies — a nod to his professional background. While this is only tangentially related to the film, it reflects the owner’s desire to link personal values (sustainability) with cultural preservation.

 

TheOverTheHillBand.com is more than a fan page — it’s a digital shrine to a film that dared to tell a story about older people rediscovering life’s joy. In an age where youth dominates screens and media, the site’s continued presence is a gentle but firm act of resistance. It affirms that stories like The Over the Hill Band matter — not just to older viewers, but to all who seek narratives of resilience, humor, and transformation.

 

TheOverTheHillBand.com