The Fourth Man Reviews

Classic movie, wonderfully filmed, and lots of suspense.

Gerard Reve (Jeroen Krabbe) is a bisexual writer who is obsesssed with religious imagery, and arrives in Amsterdam to give literary lectures. There he meets Christine (Renee Soutendijk), a three time widow with a mysterious past, who he spends the night with. He is getting ready to go back to Amsterdam the next day, when he sees a picture of her gorgeous plumbler lover, Herman (Thom Hoffman). He finds himself attracted to Herman, and stays for a few more days to meet him. Then begins the question of whether the deaths of Christine's past husbands were not accidental.

Some very creative (and I imagine controversial) use of homoeroticism and religious symbols. Beautiful use of suspense, colours, and cinamatography.

Return to a CLassic

I first saw this film about 13 years ago late one night on channel four and have since spent many years trying to track it, down just to watch again.

Unlike so many other things that you return to after such a long time this film still retained it's quality. In fact if anything i actually enjoyed the experience so much more the second time.

Ok so there are comparisons to Hitchcock! but i ask you 'name something original in the medium of film?' there are very few true originals that we cannot draw comparisons from.

so my advice is sit back and enjoy the excellent Jeroen Krabb? and the equally excellent Verhoven in what i consider to be one of their best films.

What happened to the first 3 ?

Made by Paul Verhoeven in the 80's, this is a clear forerunner to "Basic Instinct", with its predatory female, here played by sexy Renee Soutendijk, and the weak male drawn into her web. The twist here(I'm not giving anything away) is that this guy is gay! This is a very entertaining film, with that slightly grubby atmosphere Verhoeven seems to bring to all his movies. Don't be put off by the subtitles(the film was made in Holland, before the director went to America),this is a very enjoyable psychological thriller.

Barely memorable

Had to click on this to remember having seen the film at all. Woman as black widow killing off her men. No particular joy here.

[Highly rated reviewer]

VERTIGO meets Hammer Horror!

Sorry Mr Verhoeven-but its been done before-and better-by Mr.Hitchcock!

Even down to the Tippi Hedren-type Blonde!They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery-but I prefer the original thanks!

(Good story though!)

Did I Miss Something?

Although the plot is promising, and develops fairly suspensefully, I found this film to be a little dated and, unless I missed something, the mystery was never satisfactorily explained ...

Reality vs. Madness In Stylish Thriller

An alcoholic bisexual writer becomes involved with a beautiful hairdresser but becomes apprehensive about her strange behaviour. The apprehension turns to alarm when he accidently discovers that she may have murdered three husbands. The atmosphere is heavy with sexual tension in this taut noir thriller. Great stuff.

interesting

Femme fatale story with some gory effects whilestill obviously european film. Verhoeven later came up with 3 breasted mutant in total recall, but this is more conventional. Amoral as well and somewhat slow moving or relaxed by hollywood standards. Not as bleak as some later european films.

Was it worth the wait?

I rented this after seeing the first half of the movie over 7 years ago and never seeing the end. So... was I disappointed? Not terribly, the movie holds together, the symbolism is a bit obvious and could have been subtler. But yeah, I suppose i'd watch it again.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Sexy and gory? Er...No!

Early Paul Verhoeven outing. Boring and very obvious. A black widow type scenario that is highly unoriginal. Becomes very tedious very quickly. If this did indeed win Paul Verhoeven international acclaim I fail to understand why...regarding references to christian symbolism and homoerotica, again they're not affronting nor interesting. And who was responsible for the atrocious special effects???? 1 star. Dutch. Subtitled.