LEEF (miniseries)

LEEF is a Belgian miniseries produced by Polar Bear and first aired on the Flemish broadcasting channel Eén. The story was written by Leen Vanderreycken and Lenny Van Wesemael. Main roles are performed by Michaël Pas and Joke Emmers.[1]

LEEF
Created by	Leen Vanderreycken Lenny Van Wesemael
Written by	Leen Vanderreycken Lenny Van Wesemael
Story by	Leen Vanderreycken Lenny Van Wesemael
Directed by	Lenny Van Wesemael Anthony Schatteman
Country of origin	Belgium
Original language	Dutch
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	4
Production
Production company	Polar Bear
Release
Original network	Eén
Original release	January 11 – January 14, 2021

Story

Vincent owns a funeral home. He never invested in the company and does not follow up trends. The funeral home does not have an aula and people cannot follow funerals over streaming video. As a result, more and more people choose for the competitors which results in more money loss.

His only employee is Anja. She washes and prepares the bodies for a viewing including the make-up. Anja lives in a dreamworld: she starts conversations with the deceased who litterly come back alive in her fantasy and give her advise. That's why she eventually decides to quit her job to open her own beauty salon, but also fears that company will fail due to insufficient customers as there is a huge competition.

Episodes

No.	Original air date
1	2021-1-11
Vincent De Vos, a grumpy man, is almost bankrupt as he never invested in his funeral home. He got an offer from an investment company to add the business under their management, but he rejected. The only thing which interests Vincent are his earnings and all kind of ways to save costs. He is even not impressed when his employee Anja almost died after a part of the building's advertising board fell down and just missed her. Due to this incident, Anja realizes her dreams must come true. In her imagination she starts a conversation with Erik De Gruyter, a deceased man who just was brought in. She discovers Erik wears woman's underwear so she assumes he is a non-outed homosexual who had a secret love affair with a man. In her fantasy, she is sure the man would have loved it to be buried as a transvestite. Together with him she decides to start up her own business: a beauty salon which will be famous for miles around due to her talents as a make-up artist. At the end she decides not to dress the man as a transvestite, although she puts lipstick on his lips and adds fake eyebrows.
2	2021-1-12
Vincent is distracted by a calling mobile phone which he finds near Erik De Gruyter. That's the way how he discovers the lipstick and fake eyebrows. He decides to do the make-up again on his own which is a failure. Anja dreams about her future together with a deceased young woman with whom she makes up a business plan to get a loan from the bank. They decide the customers must be people from the LGBT-scene as there are no competitors at all. Vincent announces he cannot pay Anja anymore unless she agrees to work halftime. She decides to quit although she must stay for another three months or until someone else has been found. An old love of Vincent chooses the funeral home to bury her mother. Vincent realizes he still has feelings for her but he did not put enough time into their relationship. This woman also tells investments in the business are really necessary. Anja is surprised when Vincent gives her coffee and chocolates as a present.
3	2021-1-13
Anja uses make-up from the brand "Naomi Cosmetics". Owner Naomi was taken into the funeral house after she committed suicide. Anja starts in her fantasies a conversation with Naomi. Anja realizes it will not be easy to manage her own business: employees, all kinds of costs, contract negotiations, ... Zoë comes over to apply for a job: she is fascinated by dead and how dead ceremonies are handled over the world and more concrete in Sulawesi. She also advices Vincent to invest in the outdated funeral home and he must certainly introduce many colors when he renovates. That's why he decides to overpaint a coffin with glitter paint, but Anja and her mother doubt that will be successful. Anja returns to the body of Noami and starts a new conversation with her. Naomi is impressed with the result of the make-up - although she does not refer to Anja but to her own perfect products - and it looks like she is already in heaven. That remark gives Anja inspiration: "Beauty Heaven Anja - say goodbye in beauty". She decides to keep her job and to explain her idea to Vincent, but he just prepared a farewell party for her. He claims to have found a successor although Naomi did not take the job and started working at a competitor. On advice by her mother, Anja applies for a job at "Perfumery Kathy".
4	2021-1-14
Lola, a friend of Anja, died after a fall. Anja, on the dole, visits the body before the official greeting. She finds Lola is badly made up and removes the make-up to redo it her way. According Vincent the new employee is not that good as her. In an imaginary talk with Lola, Anja realizes there is no new employee. It also becomes clear Vincent convinced Lola's parents to choose for the glitter-coffin. Anja admits the bank rejected her business plan. She also quit at "Perfumery Kathy" after one day as she cannot stand the chattering customers so opening a beauty salon would not have been a good decision. After a break in the water service pipe, Vincent finally realizes the only way to beware the company from a bankrupt, is to take the proposal of the investment company. He also reoffers Anja her job. She declines as she is about to start at the competing funeral house but is willing to return on condition Vincent installs a good coffee machine in which he agrees. Regarding the idea "Beauty Heaven Anja - say goodbye in beauty": that remains a mystery.

Cast

• Vincent: Michaël Pas
• Anja: Joke Emmers
• Erik De Gruyter: Lucas Van den Eynde
• Daniëlle: Chris Nietvelt
• Lola: Ikram Aoulad

References

1. "LEEF" [Live] (in Dutch). 5. Retrieved 14 January 2021. Check date values in: |date= (help)