Faithfully Yours – Netflix Review (3/5)

FAITHFULLY YOURS on Netflix is a new thriller from the Netherlands. A crime mystery unfolds over the course of 95 minutes. Fans of crime stories will probably guess most plot twists, but it works overall. Read our full Faithfully Yours movie review here!

FAITHFULLY YOURS is a new Netflix thriller that offers up everything many viewers love when it comes to crime mysteries. There are plot twists left and right, everyone has secrets and they tend to have a steamy vibe. This Dutch movie utilizes all the classic crime plot elements. Maybe even to a fault.

However, on the other hand, this movie never tries to be anything more than what it is; An entertaining mystery where everyone is a suspect and everyone lies. With a runtime of 1 hour and 35 minutes, it manages to entertain. And yet, fans of the crime-thriller-mystery genre will likely guess many of the answers ahead of time.

Continue reading our Faithfully Yours movie review below. Find it on Netflix from May 17, 2023.

Everyone is a liar

Best friends, Bodil (Bracha van Doesburgh) and Isabel (Elise Schaap) have this thing where they supposedly go away for a weekend together. However, that’s just what they tell everyone around them to have a solid alibi. What these attractive, successful, and seemingly happily married women are actually doing is something else entirely.

With carefully planned cultural events – shared on social media and messenger – they are actually apart and enjoying secret affairs. However, with their credible plans and specific details in place, they never contradict each other afterward.

However, when Isabel disappears and a bloody trail is left behind, Bodil gets caught in her own web of lies.

Now, if there is one thing you’ll learn from watching Faithfully Yours, it’s that everyone is a liar. Some people lie in big ways, other people stick to the smaller white lies. Also, everyone appears to be miserable in their current lives and chooses escape and deception to deal with that.

If people would just be honest with themselves, their lives would be better. I am grossly oversimplifying things here, I know, but it is a core point of the story in Faithfully Yours.

It gets a bit wild but never goes too far

Overall, I found myself guessing all the key plot twists ahead of time while watching Faithfully Yours. On one hand, that’s just the side effect of watching (and reading) as much crime as I do. On the other, it means there’s nothing new, and I do love solid – and believable – twists that I just did not see coming.

There are some elements that annoy me because they’re never addressed. Like the fact that there were paw prints in the blood and that the dogwalker was an obvious witness (one we see twice as viewers) and yet it’s ignored for the remainder of the story.

A small thing, but one that was an important alibi and yet forgotten by everyone. It feels a little strange in a crime mystery unfolding over the course of 95 minutes.

The Danish Netflix thriller Loving Adults isn’t a bad comparison – though the twists in this Dutch movie are quite different! I actually think Faithfully Yours is a tad better, but that might be mostly because some things in the Danish movie annoyed me as a Dane. It just felt off somehow, but in ways, I think most non-Danes will never experience.

Watch Faithfully Yours on Netflix

André van Duren is the director of this new Dutch Netflix thriller. Previously, André van Duren has directed a lot of thriller series, so he’s quite used to working with this genre. Also other genres as well, but that’s less relevant in this case. He also co-wrote the screenplay with Elisabeth Lodeizen and Paul Jan Nelissen.

The runtime of 95 minutes is definitely to its advantage. And yet, it does manage to have many twists and suspects along the way. At the same time, I found that most things kept pointing to the final twist that was ultimately revealed. Well, if you’re looking for it, obviously.

I suspect that fans of crime novels (I am one myself) will enjoy most of this movie, though it won’t challenge them too much. Also, there are those steamy moments along the way that seem to always ensure that a Netflix movie becomes a hit.

Faithfully Yours is on Netflix from May 17, 2023.

Details

Director: André van Duren
Writers: Elisabeth Lodeizen, Paul Jan Nelissen, André van Duren
Cast: Bracha van Doesburgh, Elise Schaap, Nasrdin Dchar, Gijs Naber, Hannah Hoekstra, Matteo Simoni