When It Melts
2023 film directed by Veerle Baetens
When It Melts (Dutch: Het smelt) is a 2023 drama film written and directed by Veerle Baetens in her directorial debut. It is loosely based on the 2016 novel The Melting (Het smelt) by Lize Spit. The film stars Charlotte De Bruyne and Rosa Marchant, and explores themes of childhood trauma, the influence of family dynamics, and the struggle for personal identity.
The film had its world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival where it competed for the Grand Jury Prize Dramatic. At the 2023 Ensor Awards, When It Melts received eight nominations, including Best Film and Best Director for Baetens.
Plot
Eva grows up with two boys in the small village of Bovenmeer. As they reach adolescence, the boys come up with cruel schemes, and Eva is faced with the difficult decision of whether to go along with them, a choice she feels powerless to avoid. Thirteen years after that fateful summer spiraled out of control, Eva returns to her hometown with a block of ice in the trunk of her car, intent on confronting the trauma of her past.
Production
Production for When It Melts was initially in the hands of the production company Menuet. After it ceased to exist in 2017, Savage Film, led by Bart Van Langendonck and Sarah Marks, took over.
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The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as 2023 film directed by Veerle Baetens. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q115819410. 7 of 7 selected statements include explicit references; 7 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2023, 2016 and 2017.
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This entry incorporates text from “When It Melts” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.