Cathy Tippel

Due to budgetary constraints, Verhoeven was not able to craft the film as he wanted, i.e. as a depiction of the circumstances and onset of social change due to the rise of socialist movements in the Netherlands, and had to focus on the more intimate, personal side of the story. Fortunately, this doesn't bother anyone too much, because you can still tell that this was the most expensive Dutch film production at the time anyway. The film thus focuses purely on how the wide-open class scissors ultimately reduce people to mere whores and johns. Which is quite fitting for Verhoeven. Of course, we also get a lot of naturalistic detail, which often has a kind of Tinto Brass esprit. Veterans of the director's previous opus will be pleased to see the fractious duo of Monique and Rutger reunite and get up to no good. Incidentally, I find that one of the things I regret a lot is that I missed out on being a young Rutger Hauer in life. (03/31/2021)