Watches
March 01, 2023
A Dutch classic and one of Paul Verhoeven's first feature films. I'd never seen the film before, nor read the book, so I had no idea what to expect. I wasn't all that surprised to get a somewhat raunchier romance, what I didn't expect was the rather crummy and stilted execution of the thing.
When Olga picks up Eric on the side of the road, it's love at first sight. The two get into a car accident and Olga disappears from Eric's life, but he can't forget about her and looks everywhere until he finally finds her again. They get married and for a while, things go well, but then disaster strikes.
The performances are horrible, the dialogues are hideous, and almost half of the film is made up of nonsensical interludes. The romantic angle works relatively well regardless, but that too gets stunted in the second half. It's a pretty rough start to Verhoeven's career, but at least the film got his name out.