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First time feature filmmaker Simone van Dusseldorp explores the growing pains experienced by a sullen adolescent girl coming-of-age in the 1970s in this adaptation of Hendrickje Spoor's novel Life Does Not Exist. Heleen (Melody Klaver) is a fourteen year-old Dutch schoolgirl on family holiday with her parents and her younger brother Emile (Jorik Scholten) when she begins to hear her parents argue about their mutual marital indiscretions. When her parents finally split and the siblings go off to live with mom (Monic Hendrikx), Heleen is at first repulsed by the frequent parade of lovers marching through her broken home. Later, when Heleen begins to take an interest in the opposite sex, nerdish local Axel (Stijn Koomen) does his best to catch her attention. Unfortunately for Axel, Heleen only has eyes for the boy's rebellious best friend Steve (Damien Hope).