The director (right) with cinematographer Karl Walter Lindenlaub on the set of
"Black Book". Actors Valdemar Kobus (left) and Halina Reijn in
"Black Book."
(All photos: Jaap Vrenegoor/Content Film via Sony Pictures Classics)
It has been 15 years since Paul Verhoeven directed
"Basic Instinct", a film which caused a huge stir in the United States for its
explicit sex and violence, and most memorably for Sharon Stone's revealing
"open-and-shut" moment, which reportedly was unauthorized by Ms. Stone.
Audiences accustomed to Mr. Verhoeven however, know that in many of his films
his strong visual style is often accompanied by visceral violence and graphic
sex scenes. One need only have seen previous native films from the Dutch
director like "Diary Of A Hooker", "Turks Fruit", "The Fourth Man", "Spetters",
"Flesh & Blood" and "Soldier Of Orange" to learn this. His American-made
films such as "RoboCop" (1987), "Total Recall" (1990) and "Starship Troopers"
(1997) also had their mix of sex and violence -- or just outright violence --
but all of those films had a distinct visual presentation that fueled their
stories.
Now Mr. Verhoeven returns home to Holland, 20 years after making his last film
there, with "Black Book" ("Zwartboek"), a thriller based on true-life events during the second
World War that embroiled the Dutch and the Germans. "Black Book" was named
after a book containing a list of names of likely traitors and collaborators
from Holland who would curry favor with the Nazis against the resistance army of
their own homeland. The book itself (which was never found) was in fact a diary, and according to
the director was that of a lawyer from The Hague, one Mr. De Boer, who ended up being
assassinated in the Goudenregenstraat following the end of the war. In an
interview in the film's production notes the director revealed that originally
the lead character was male, but after logistical problems beset the ideas for
the story and its themes, Gerard Soeteman (who co-wrote "Black Book" with the
director -- a script that was twenty years in the making) decided to make the
character a woman.
The woman in question is Rachel, a complex heroine played by Carice Van Houten.
Several groups of Jewish people are betrayed and exposed by a traitor and suffer
death and assassination in the Biesbosch. In the film Rachel infiltrates the German ranks while balancing her allegiance
with her Dutch compatriots. The balance is an uneasy one, with
revelations, secrets, mysteries and dangers around every corner. The cast
of the film includes the incredibly busy Sebastian Koch, who over the last year
or so has been in several films including the European Film Award-winning and
Academy Award-winning film "Das Leben Der Anderen" ("The Lives Of Others"), and
actors Thom Hoffman, Halina Reijn, Michiel Huisman, Waldemar Kobus and Christian
Berkel.
"Black Book", which opens this weekend in other American cities (it is now
playing in New York and Los Angeles) and has been playing in several countries over the last
year including Germany, was a film that Paul Verhoeven in part made as a
"correction" to Soldier Of Orange", which was a more one-sided
and black-and-white
type of portrayal of heroes of war. The screenplay that he and Mr. Soeteman
collaborated on for "Black Book" was non-existent when the Verhoeven film "Soldier Of Orange"
(1977) was being made, even though just after that time the desire to make the
film that was to eventually become "Black Book" was strong.
Suffice it to say, the research process for "Black
Book" took forty years -- at least for Mr. Verhoeven and co-writer Soeteman to
read between 700 and 800 documents during that time -- including a report by
Dutch Nazi Party member reverend Van der Vaart Smit, jailed after the end of the
war. The report revealed the pervasive abuse and torture by the Dutch
Nazis, of Dutch Jewish prisoners in 1945. "This is what makes the film so
provocative, because nobody has yet shown how we treated our prisoners in 1945."
Carice Van Houten as Rachel, and as Ellis (on the bicycle), with actor Michiel
Huisman (riding bicycle) in Paul Verhoeven's "Black Book" (Zwartboek).
Provocation, it seems, is Paul Verhoeven's middle name. With "Basic
Instinct" he touched off a firestorm in some parts of San Francisco's gay and
lesbian community when filming the 1992 Michael Douglas-Sharon Stone film there.
Some lesbian activists protested on the San Francisco sets of the film, offended
about what they felt were negative portrayals of the lesbian characters in the
film, particularly the character played by Stone and the one played by Leilani
Sarelle. At the time of filming in 1991, Verhoeven expressed bewilderment
and displeasure at the protestations particularly because, he said, the activist
groups had not actually seen a copy of the shooting script. He had
reportedly been quoted as saying that the protests smacked of a "political
agenda" and "self-aggrandizement" that had "no merit." The director's
comments set off a wave of response from some elements of the gay community,
which had asked for people to boycott the film.
Furthermore, the episode of Sharon Stone's much-publicized no-underwear shot
during the film, which according to the actor was without consent was a big
talking point among some within the industry. On the laserdisc commentary
of the film's unrated version Verhoeven addresses the situation and says that
the infamous shot was filmed with Sharon alone in the room with the director --
and that she was fully aware of what was happening. He also mentions that
he had shown Stone the finished shot in dailies and in the edit room and that
she had approved of the scene. Since that time, Stone has enjoyed a long
and successful career, despite "Basic Instinct 2", which fared poorly worldwide
last year. Last November (and on DVD on April 10) in the U.S. and Canada
she appeared in Emilio Estevez's directorial debut film "Bobby" as part of an
ensemble cast.
Paul Verhoeven has also moved forward since that point fifteen years ago with
films like "Starship Troopers" and now "Black Book", which has already received
a measure of acclaim in Holland and elsewhere in Europe.
As with "Basic Instinct" and its murders, naturally a subject as vivid, recent,
historic and as traumatic as this one heavy doses of violence are to be
expected, and not surprisingly, "Black Book" has strong violence -- and sexual
content -- another Verhoeven staple -- and the film's international trailer
shows several moments of nudity. Not that any of that is a big deal --
although some in the U.S. might be put off by the visceral combination of film's
two greatest selling variables. (In the U.S. the Motion Picture
Association of America has given the film a Restricted (R) rating, for some
strong language, graphic nudity, sexuality and language.)
As far as the film's creative process is concerned, Gerard Soeteman was the
architect of the "Black Book" screenplay, "monitoring story development and
character development," Verhoeven said. Typically the director would add
and alter things -- both in scenes and of characters. In the past when
Soeteman and Verhoeven have collaborated it would be Soeteman who would get the
screenwriting credit, but the director said that "this time my contribution was
such that Gerard and I both felt that we should share the writing credits."
After an absence of 20 years, Paul Verhoeven relished the challenge of coming
home and working in his native country again with "Black Book."
"The best thing was to be able to work with the biggest acting talent, Carice
Van Houten, Thom Hoffman (who starred in "The Fourth Man"), Halina Reijn, Peter
Blok -- and let's not forget the Germans, Sebastian Koch, Christian Berkel,
Waldemar Kobus. These are actors of the highest quality. In America
I had almost no access to that category." The director revealed that
making a film with American actors was a "Mission: Impossible" of sorts.
"I would have loved to make a film with Nicole Kidman or Tom Cruise, but it's
almost impossible. The only way is a special project that's tailored to
the star."
"Black Book" (Zwartboek) opened in New York and Los
Angeles on April 6, 2007 and played in the Netherlands, opening there last
September. "Black Book" expands to other U.S. cities and cities around the
world beginning on April 13.
