Finn (2013)

Nine-year-old Finn (Mels van der Hoeven) lives with his father (Daan Schuurmans) in the fictional village of Hosselen. His mother died when he was born. One day, Finn meets a mysterious man who plays the violin (Jan Decleir) and has moved into a vacant house in the village. Apparently, the man can conjure things with his music, because Finn sees his dead mother appear. Finn would like to take violin lessons from him. His father forbids it: he wants his son to keep playing football, and for unclear reasons he is also at odds with the old man. Finn secretly takes lessons from him anyway. It turns out the man is Finn’s grandfather. Finn’s father used to play the violin too, and had a performance scheduled for around the time Finn was due to be born. His father persuaded him to go ahead with the performance, even though his pregnant wife had a premonition that something would go wrong during the birth. And, as mentioned, it did: she died. Finn’s father felt guilty, but was also angry with his own father, because if he had stayed home, he could have driven his wife to the hospital in the city faster than the ambulance did. It turns out that Finn’s grandfather had actually died a few months earlier. Finn had imagined his meetings with his grandfather and his violin lessons. Nevertheless, his teacher (Hanna Verboom) had heard him play beautifully while he was practising, so she lets him perform at the school’s Christmas concert. During the performance, his father comes in, having picked up the violin again after a long time, and accompanies him as he plays.