There’s a lot of effort evident in Holland—in its moody world-building, its picture-perfect town, and its attempt to explore the layers beneath a seemingly idyllic life. But effort alone doesn’t make for a compelling film.
Set in the quiet town of Holland, Michigan, Mimi Cave’s sophomore outing centres on Nancy (Nicole Kidman), a woman who appears to have it all—an elegant home, a gentle husband (Matthew Macfadyen), and a fresh start from a troubled past. But like much else in this film, it’s all a facade. Beneath the polished surface lie buried secrets, hinted at through cryptic lines, eerie glances, and deliberately staged conversations. The problem is, these hints rarely lead anywhere satisfying.
Holland wants to be a layered psychological thriller, but in trying to peel back its layers, it ends up exposing its own narrative shortcomings. There are themes here—about the masks women wear, about domestic dissatisfaction, about reinvention—but they remain undercooked. Nancy’s character is written with a quiet unease, but we never fully understand her, nor are we given enough reason to care. Rachel Sennott, briefly appearing as a darker, more modern counterpoint to Nancy’s traditionalism, brings some edge but isn’t given enough screen time to leave a real impact.
Even the male characters—Fred, the too-good-to-be-true husband, and Dave (Gael Garcia Bernal), Nancy’s ambiguous coworker—seem to carry secrets, but the film doesn’t do much with them beyond vague suggestion. Jude Hill adds charm, and the cast is uniformly solid, especially Kidman, who brings a certain grace and quiet ache to her role. But strong performances can’t salvage a film that’s unsure of what it wants to say.
In the end, Holland feels like a collection of themes in search of a story—well-dressed, well-performed, but hollow. For a film about what lies beneath appearances, it’s ironic how little it finds beneath its own.