Hugo Metsers Movies
Filmmaker Paul Verhoeven returned to the Netherlands after more than twenty years of success in Hollywood to direct this epic-scale war drama based on a true story. Rachel Steinn (Carice van Houten) is a beautiful Jewish woman living in German-occupied Holland during late 1944. Her family members - who have been falsely promised safe passage to Belgium (their names recorded in the 'black book' of the title) are instead robbed and slaughtered by the Germans on a premeditated basis; Rachel herself manages to escape by diving into the water and swimming away. She narrowly avoids capture, then joins the local resistance movement. With her hair dyed blonde, Rachel can easily pass for Aryan, and when the leader of the Dutch resistance movement learns his son has been captured by Axis forces, Rachel is asked to use her feminine charms to persuade a German commander to arrange for the boy's release. Rachel soon finds herself caught up in a dangerous double life as she becomes a sexual plaything for the Nazis while attempting to bring down their evil empire as a spy. Zwartboek was written by Verhoeven and Gerard Soeteman, who collaborated on the 1977 international success Soldier of Orange. Zwartboek received its world premier at the 2006 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carice van Houten, Sebastian Koch, (more)
A happy gay couple living in a trendy Amsterdam neighborhood finds their relationship put to the ultimate test when a mysterious American shows up and sweeps one of the men completely off his feet. Max and Pascal were living a life of luxury when a handsome stranger from the States showed up and everything fell apart. Now, as Max enters into a whirlwind affair with the passionate American, Pascal realizes that he and his longtime mate may have but one last chance to salvage their failing relationship. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hugo Metsers, Joris van de Sande, (more)
Robert Jan Westdijk directed this Dutch drama about two Amsterdam roommates, Hugo (Hugo Metsers) and Goof (Roeland Fernhout), who charm, seduce, and rob female tourists, saving passport ID pages as souvenirs. While Hugo is liberating American tourist Kristy (Nicole Eggert) of her traveling funds, Goof goofs by inviting a beautiful Siberian babe, Lara (Vlatka Simac), up to their apartment -- a bad move as Lara uses her inside knowledge of the duo to manipulate them and sabotage their scam set-up. With Dutch and English dialogue, the film blends color, black-and-white, and video; there is also Techno music by the Dutch band Junkie XL. The film was shown at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hugo Metsers, Roeland Fernhout, (more)
- 1983
This Dutch melodrama is grounded in the activities of the post-WW II black market. Specifically, the protagonists are involved in a risky butter-smuggling operation along the Belgian border. Hugo Metsers plays a young man who is conscience-stricken by the fact that his former Resistance buddies are now mixed up in criminal activities. Ultimately, Metsers has an irreparable falling out with his best friend, a personal tragedy that leads to wider-ranging ramifications. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hugo Metsers, Rijk de Gooyer, (more)
Spetters further elaborates on the themes of sexual obsession previously probed in director Paul Verhoeven's Turkish Delight (1973). Hans Van Tongeren, Toon Agterberg and Maarten Spanjer play, respectively, Reen, Eve and Hans, a closely-knit group of teenage motorcycle lovers who idolize local cycling champion Witkamp (played by Rutger Hauer, the star of Delight). Unfortunately, the adolescents' attempts to rebel take a dark and brutal turn when Van Tongeren is permanently injured in a road accident and Agterberg is gang raped by a group of homosexuals. While the other two young men lust after Fientje (Renee Soutendjik), a promiscuous hashhouse waitress, Agterberg responds to the rape by coming out and taking Fientje's gay brother as a lover. Verhoeven is artistically and sexually graphic in juxtaposing "cycle love" with the friends' carnal interrelations. The title of Spetters is an indigenous triple-entendre -- it refers to the Dutch vernacular for "grease spatterings" (both the oily renderings left behind by the motorcycles commandeered by the film's central characters and the grease slung by Soutendjik), is a slang term for male ejaculate, and was frequently used in the seventies and eighties to refer to people who are sexually appealing ("That girl is a spetter.")
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hans Van Tongeren, Renée Soutendijk, (more)
- 1980
This well-received contemporary drama was based on a novel by Gerald Reve. Hugo Netsers and Hans Dagelet star as, respectively, a middle-aged writer and a restless youth. These two opposites attract, and a gay romance blossoms. Dagelet draws Netsers out of his shell, and the two go on the prowl for new adventures. The film deftly blends fantasy and reality while weaving its way to an intriguing conclusion. The original Dutch title was Lieve Jongens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hugo Metsers, Hans Dagelet, (more)
- 1975
This anthology film includes four stories filmed by four different directors. The first chronicles the amatory conquest of a bank manager by one of his female clerks. The second examines the life of an independent old man who does not want to be "improved." The third depicts the relationship between a sailor and a lady lawyer. The final story tells of a shopkeeper's fatal fishing trip. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1974
Alicia is a Dutch housewife who has grown weary of being treated as a mere utilitarian object. She escapes from her family, and has a series of encounters and adventures, some of which are of an erotic nature. Because she is continuing to draw on her joint bank account with her bank-manager husband, he is able to trace her steps, though she eludes his grasp. Eventually, tiring of these adventures, she returns to her home. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1973
This Dutch drama focuses on the trials and tribulations of a married couple who cannot stand to live together. The husband is an incurable womanizer, and the wife wants a more stable, responsible situation. Nonetheless, they love and care for one another. This film includes a number of explicit sexual situations, including a funeral wake which involves an orgy. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1972
The title of this dark satire from the Netherlands has nothing to do with communicable diseases and everything to do with the name of the Van Doorn meat-packing corporation. The Van Doorn family has a network of mistresses, relatives, and alliances as complicated as anything in Byzantine history and a warehouse-full of dark, dastardly family secrets. Those secrets and alliances become clear as the intrigues on the factory floor and within the family lead in tandem to blackmail and murder. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
