Customer Reviews

Keetje Tippel [VHS]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This isn't a 'B' movie! What are you nuts?! And it certainly isn't superficial social criticism! Leonard Maltin truly discredits himself by calling this amazing, ultra-realistic masterpiece superficial! But then, isn't this the same Maltin who gave Taxi Driver only two stars out of 5 in his video guide? Ignore him, he knows nothing.

Listen to me and I'll set you straight. Keetje Tipple is an extremely rare film that manages to capture reality as it is; it juggles a thousand elements to create a fully three dimensional, balanced, film world of utter realism that with all its naturalism and proper harshness, is nevertheless not cynical. Even Kubrick's "Barry Lyndon" is less authentic and detailed and far less realistic than this amazing fact based, magnificently photographed (by Jan De Bont, director of Speed and Twister) Dutch film from director Paul Verhoeven. Verhoeven makes the mistake of having a sense of humor and a certain whimsical attitude that lends even greater realism to the film, but which superficial critics like Maltin take for 'superficiality' and 'not showing proper seriousness.' An awful two-dimensional cynical cartoon of a film like "Magnolia" that all the critics fawned over is a joke compared to Verhoeven's film.

If you've only seen Verhoeven's famous American films such as Basic Instinct, Total Recall, Robocop and Starship Troopers, you're in for a big surprise; the guy is truly an 'art' film director of the highest rank and he proves it here by drawing an astounding performance from Monique van de Ven, one of the best I've ever seen. Verhoeven's European films are much more sexually explicit than anything he made in the States. Verhoeven never shies away from showing violence, rape and full frontal nudity to drive his point home and Keetje Tipple is no exception. But if you think that he uses these elements exploitatively, you're wrong; they're just part of his attempt to shock people enough so that they realize they're not watching their typical Hollywood R-rated snoozer.

Overall, Keetje Tipple is one of the greatest films of the '70s, a highly underrated masterpiece, which I cannot recommend highly enough.

The pragmatism present in Dutch art and culture is presented magnificently in this early film by the future director of Showgirls. (In fact, Showgirls makes a lot more sense once you've seen this film.) This is Pretty Woman done correctly--and twenty years earlier at that. Katie's final goal in her journey through prostitution is not a prince charming, but economic freedom, independence, social standing and a sense of self. Beautiful cinematography by Jan De Bont, future director of Speed and Twister. Based on a true story.

Based on the true story of a woman named Neel Doff, this film is somewhat of a departure from Verhoeven's other films in that it's a period piece but his style and master's touch remain. Monique Van Der Ven plays Katie, an impoverished waif whose indominatable will to survive is this film's backbone. Van Der Ven is remarkable. All wide eyed innocence yet streetwise when necessary. The poverty of 1800's Amsterdam is vividly captured as Katie's knockabout family struggle with hunger---prompting Mama to prostitute first one daughter (who goes from pig to alcoholic pig) then Katie. Katie learns fast what money can do and she leaves her foul family to be the mistress of a social climbing user (Rutger Hauer). But her fate changes again...and again. This is tamer than some of Verhoeven's work. There is a rough but quick rape scene that's handled well and not exploitive and some frank nudity but all in all Verhoeven concentrates on telling Katie's story rather than sex. The ending is rather ambiguous but leaves you satisfied that Katie has indeed finally overcome her overwhelming obstacles. Rich in detail and period flavor, this film is sumptuous to look at and the acting is sublime---esp. Van Der Ven as Katie. Some strong scenes may make some viewers squirm but, as with pre-Hollywood Verhoeven, he's honest as a filmmaker. The DVD from good old Anchor Bay is glorious.

Awesome! Great performances, cinematography, score and of course direction. Brilliant and realistic period film about a young girl struggling through poverty stricken Europe in the late 1800's in the Netherlands. The ending may seem abrupt to some but it does thankfully end on a happy note.

This 1975 film made by Paul Verhoeven in the Netherlands, stars the genuinely beautiful Monique van de Ven as Keetje (Katie) Tippel, a poor girl who moves from rural Holland to Amsterdam with her awful family in search of a better life. She goes through various awful jobs, gets to pose as a model for Rembrandt, and sinks to participate in the world's oldest profession before catching the eye of Rutger Hauer as the loathsome banker Hugo. After participating in a violent demonstration she finds love with the son of a socialite, but the film ends at that point, so it really stands as an exploration of her struggle to reach the goal of love, leaving the rest of her life to be dealt with in a title card at the end of the film.

The film is generally well made, and excels at showing the squalid conditions that newcomers had to deal with in Amsterdam at that time. The acting is rather good, with van de Ven turning in an excellent performance, and Hauer excelling (as always) as the creepy male lead. The film's primary weakness is its excessive length: while 105 minutes isn't necessarily too long for a feature, there are long drawn out scenes designed to provide atmosphere which contribute little other than running time.

I would love to see more of van de Ven's work, and while I do have reservations about the pacing, the film is worth a look. As an aside, the film apparently comes in several different lengths, I can only address the version I saw, but apparently there is a racier version as well that had to be cut substantially to avoid an X rating.

The movie portrays the plight of a poor family from the north of Holland that moves to Amsterdam to seek their fortune during the industrial revolution. It helps to know some basic Dutch because the subtitles are quite bad and detract from the film. Social settings and dialogue in the film are quite colorful and intense when compared to plodding Hollywood films. Depiction of business ethics displays significant cultural bias and is probably enough to make many modern Americans break out laughing.

their just too ,well ahh foreign, but this is really a great film. The copy I bought was dubbed, and it was done quite well. Judging from the credits I can imagine that the subtitled copy must be hard to read. If you have any fantasies about the nobility of being poor do not watch this film. Though the movie is successful on many levels, the one thing you will remember most is that "poverty sucks" no matter where or when you were born.

This film is visually stunning with a soundtrack that sounds truly haunted. Occasionally the film lets itself down with it's editing. I sometimes feel disorientated thinking " wait slow down will you." Having said that - this film is well acted, and really puts you in the Netherlands of the 19th Century. It may not be as hard hitting and exciting as Turkish Delight but this film is equally competent and well worth watching.

The previous reviewer hit the nail on the head with the "long drawn out scenes to create atmosphere", however he got a few things wrong. For a start Rembrandt lived several hundred years before the use of cameras in the nineteenth century. It is only a nickname for the artist in the film.

[...]

The first 20 minutes of the film are so bad I almost stopped watching. As stated in the Wikipedia entry it was the most expensive Dutch film produced at the time (1975), its hard to see where the money went, the sound track is appalling with a very ordinary tune used over and over. I suppose creativity becomes stilted when an important person is the subject. Maybe the Dutch version is a little better.

The director Paul Verhoeven went on to do Hollywood blockbusters such as Robocop and Basic Instinct. The lead actress Monique van de Ven does full nudity, she is attractive if a bit bony, but really carries it with an infectious personality. She is one of those actresses that starts off doing virtual porn and ends up with a respectable career. She has a list of film credits as long as your arm and was still working only a few years ago. Apparently the earlier film "Turkish Delight" she starred in, also directed by Verhoeven is more pornographic, although this film is not. Turkish Delight was voted the best Dutch film of the century apparently.

Anyhow as the film develops it becomes more watchable, although it still drags a bit here and there. I'd give it a generous eight out of ten, but given the significance of the real story behind it, its a pretty poor effort. It is really a succession of vignettes rather than a contiguous story. I was wondering was it a morality tale about prostitution? It seemed to have all the usual justifications, everyone else in the film seemed to do it and not have a problem with it except the wondering lead actress. In the real world people survive poverty without losing their morals, and perhaps because they don't. More often losing your morals leads to eventual failure if brief initial success. However socialist propaganda would ignore that point.

There also seemed to be a theme of poverty being freedom, and an independent spirit that is not crushed by the down side of life. But the theme goes nowhere. Instead at the end she becomes a socialist and then marries into wealth. In fact going back to the real story the books of her life acted to propel the socialist cause so she was hardly a hypocrite.

The film is worth a look if only as an introduction to a bigger story than it is capable of portraying, and also for students of film an early work of a significant director and actors.

This movie "Superficial?" Never! It is one of the finest and original movies I've ever seen. If you want to see a film that is the best example of the concept that All things work together for Good, this is it. It is also based on the title character's autobiography.