Black Book

Leaving aside Basic Instinct, which I saw when I was about 13 years old. :), I haven't seen any Verhoeven films in their entirety up to this point – just always in bits and pieces. So, ironically, his last film thus far was the first one I saw. I'm breaking it down like this because I don't know if his other films are similarly dense, intricate, and grandiose in terms of scriptwriting. Black Book is an exquisite WW2 film that gives a rather original insight into the ranks of both Nazis and resistance fighters, while not putting either side in the forefront from a moral standpoint and keeping a clever distance. Verhoeven thus very cleverly and indiscriminately shows that there was plenty of shit on both sides and that there were very few truly unbroken and pure people left. Respectable Hollywood execution – all the costumes, the gorgeous interiors, the excellent music, and the charismatic Carice van Houten, combined with the expressive and distinctive direction, combine to create a breathtaking result that has something to say in terms of both form and content. And if the script for this film isn't Oscar-worthy, I really don't know what is. (29/12/2011)

The comparison may be silly, but I just think Verhoeven would like it. I mean, how a director who practically fled the Netherlands for creative reasons to the US, where he successfully and happily created until he started feeling the production limits again there, returned with great aplomb to his homeland, where everyone patted him on the back and put together a grand fresco about the uneasy and ambivalent mood of collaboration. Black Book's (excessive to my tastes) formal purity is a reference to film canons, which of course makes it far more subversive. In doing so, as if on purpose, those comfort-ripping scenes about dyeing privates, blown-out brains, little SS dicks, or shit cauldrons do little to disguise the fact that the film is almost lacking a purely noble character. For example, the protagonist herself becomes an ace up the Resistance's sleeve just because of her background and her desire for vengeance over the death of her family, otherwise she would have happily spent the war by the pond. These aren't themes that Verhoeven is tackling for the first time; in fact, he's spent his entire life talking about nothing but the inherent corruption of human character, and anyone who's seen at least one of his earlier Dutch films will be virtually unsurprised by anything here. Even though Black Book is a clumsier film than we’re used to from this director (the occasionally palpable staginess, the visible artificial lighting, the amusing single-line roles of the female resistance fighters), it still preserves the director's reputation as an entertainer who can work as well with the drama of the film as the drama of the individual scenes, making it virtually impossible to get bored or drop out of the film. (04/05/2021)

With its costumes, set designs and 1940s atmosphere, all of which are perfect, Black Book is a beautifully made film. But underneath this Hollywoodishly precise, dynamically edited façade, there is a cold Dutch heart that is far from the standard Hollywood form. The result is contradictory. In places, the characters seem not to be human, have no emotions and act only on the basis of their motives to achieve the intended goal. In its story, Black Book is more of a superficial, rushed action thriller than a drama that would provide you with more than elegant enjoyment and astonishment over the perfect technical aspect, which in itself is worthy of four stars. (03/01/2010)

Great atmosphere and impressive craftsmanship, but otherwise heavily detached and cold. There’s plenty of the traditional Verhoeven stuff (violence, explicit eroticism), but that doesn't necessarily make the film good as a whole. The attempt to go back to Holland, to be original and make a European-style film that seemingly unties the creative hands and allows for experimentation didn’t quite work. (14/09/2015)

Krieg ist Krieg und Schnaps ist Schnaps. I have a soft spot for resistance pictures. Especially for those that aren’t afraid of going straight to the core, but avoid the problem of the black-and-whiteness of the characters on both sides of the barricades. So I was worried about Black Book for a long time. Needlessly. In fact, now I’m annoyed that I ignored it when it was showing at the movie theatre. This may not be quite as good as the zenith of this sub-genre, but nor is it overshadowed by it. Not even in the scene that looks it’s come straight out of Melville’s masterpiece. It’s true that this is easier to “like", not very realistic, but suspenseful like during extra time at the Superbowl. Faultless acting, plus a bold, “provocative Verhoeven-style" screenplay which takes off and begins to get interesting precisely at the moment when similar pictures put their tail between their legs and end. Verhoeven traditionally doesn’t shy from illustrating anything, but this time it doesn’t seem at all gratuitous. And that’s something I haven’t noticed in his movies for a long time. (15/11/2008)