Customer Reviews

Turkish Delight

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's crude, it's shocking, it's filled with more heartbreaking scenes you could ever stand and it's classic Paul Verhoeven when he was still `De Man', way before he became `The Man'. When this film was released in Holland people were standing in endless queues in front of the Tuschinski theater in Amsterdam back in 1973 (!!!!), it caused a genuine witchhunt towards Verhoeven and every well broughtup decent citizen screamed it was a total slap in the face for human decency and family values. Why then did everybody go to see this hopeless lovestory? Basicly to see some nakedness on a white screen I guess, but there's more to it. The film is such an frightenly accurate account of a hopeless love between 2 people and told without unnessesary falseness in such a simple, naked style ( boy meets girl in the 70's, girl dies of illness in the `70, boy is alone again in the '70) that it's sometimes hard to watch. There's so much weird humour and clever camera moves (Jan `Speed'de Bont) you instantly recognize Verhoeven's style. Rutger Hauer and Monique van de Ven are giving their performances of a lifetime, as is the town of seventies Amsterdam. It's a film that gives you that feeling of `I was living in Holland at that time I wanted to be like them'. The orchestral score by Rogier Van Otterloo and Jean `Toots' Thielemans' mouthorgan are colouring this picture to heartbreaking perfection. Funny thing is, when the film is aired on TV nowadays (uncut, this is Holland you know) it still gets a number 1 top viewers audience. Make this DVD a double bill together with Betty Blue on a cold winter night!

Paul Verhoeven's 1973 far-from-Hollywood film opens with the [physical] escapades of Erik (Rutger Hauer) a womanizing self-destructive artist. Alone in his apartment/studio, he reflects back on his life and a painful episode that he can't forget. He met Olga (Monique Van de Ven) in a car accident. They embarked on a wild [physical] affair and Erik fell in love...hard. Olga had personality quirks that confused Erik but he just wrote it off as part of her nature. They married and Olga's behavior became more disturbing until she finally retreated to her mother's and refused to see Erik. Confounded, Erik demanded to see her and still didn't understand the problem. Then Olga winds up in the hospital seriously ill and her problem is revealed to Erik's shattered disbelief. "Turkish Delight" is the name of Olga's favorite candy. He brings it to the hospital to try and get her to eat. This is a powerful, moving and , yes, erotic story beautifully done by Verhoeven and brilliantly acted by Hauer and especially Van de Ven. There is very frank nudity and [physical] scenes that threaten to push your buttons but Verhoeven is the type of director who just throws back the curtain and tells the story. You understand why Erik is the guy he is. Love and [physical attraction] are powerful drugs and death can make you extremely bitter. "Turkish Delight" was nominated as Best Foreign Launguage film in 1974 at the Oscars in Hollywood. Once seen, it is not easily forgotten. It's a very potent adult love story and a gut wrencher. Excellent DVD transfer from Anchor Bay.

I went to see this movie with a boyfriend when we were both about eighteen - so this was nearly 24 years ago. Neither of us had a clue what we were in for. All I can say it that we both sat riveted to our seats throughout the movie and did not speak on the way home. Several days later we did speak and both of us admitted that neither of us could stop thinking about the movie, almost incessantly, it turned out. Never has any movie made a bigger impression on me or hit me more deeply or closer to where I live. Images from this movie dominated my head for hours, days, weeks, months and even years afterwards. I don't know what, if anything, I learned from it - I just know that I was obsessed with what I had witnessed on the screen, for whatever reason.

For details of the story, see the excellent reviews above. I just wanted to write about the effect that it had on me. Perhaps I should see it again, at age 41, and maybe find out what it was that so captivated me. Or perhaps I'll never be able to put it into words.

Few days ago, I watched the documentary "Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession" (2004) about a channel that had brought the great and unavailable anywhere else films to its 100, 000 lucky subscribers in LA in 70s - 80s. While enjoying the clips from many Foreign and Independent movies that were the best part of documentary, I was able to recognize the movie that I saw many years ago in Moscow and still remember well, I could not only recall the title. I remember that the movie was Dutch, very erotic - in the raw, brutal, twisted yet beautiful and passionate way. Watching "Z Channel..." I was happy to instantly recognize "Turks fruit" (1973) aka "Turkish Delight" made by Paul Verhoeven in 1973. I checked with Netflix, the movie was available; I bumped it up in my queue and just finished watching it. My memory served me well - Verhoeven's early film is as naturalistic, earthy, brutal, erotic, humorous, poetic, poignant, and captivating as I remember it. Based on the novel by Jan Wolker, "Turkish Delight" stars young, hot, very sexy (and I mean it - VERY SEXY) Rutger Hauer as a bohemian free spirited and often cruel sculptor Eric and even younger Monique van de Van as his wife Olga, child-like yet as sensual as Eric was, "the light of his life, the fire of his loins". The film that describes their stormy relationship has become the most financially successful Holland's film that was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film and was proclaimed by Jan Wolker a "75% masterpiece".

There are not very many directors in the world that can create the atmosphere of raw sensuality as well as Verhoeven (of his Dutch period, especially). Verhoeven is known for uncompromising approach to his work, fiery temperament, and aggressive movie-making. Joe Ezsterhaus who worked with Verhoeven on two films said about him: "The guy is like his movies: brilliant, mercurial, very daring, perverse, a wonderful series of paradoxes and contradictions..." "The Turkish Delight" is all that and I love it but I can understand how its graphic sexuality, more than one disgusting and revolting scenes (but they had to be in the movie) and crude behavior may put off a lot of viewers. Be prepared, "Turkish Delight" is delightful but it is very intense and often not easy to watch.

Ranks as one of Verhoeven's best films with hypnotic and electrifying performances by Monique Van De Ven and Rutger Hauer. I was completely blown away by the images in this film and its frank honesty. This is a must see film that is easily of the best love stories ever captured on celluloid.

Wow! When Paul Verhoeven is on, he is really on. This film has one of those openings. Fantastic, sucks you right in, and then you find out what the film is really about. From what has been previously written about this film, suprisingly, it was not what I expected. In a film that opens with extreme violence and sex (Verhoeven staples) it quickly evolves into an interesting and insightful character study on love and death.

Eric (Rutger Hauer) is a sculpter who lives impulsively and freely until one day, on one of his impulsive adventures, he meets Olga (Monique van de Ven). It takes Eric about a minute to "convince" Olga that he loves her and their meeting ends with a bang, literally (I don't want to give too much away). There relationship goes through the normal ups and downs, oh, and there's plenty of "affection" in the relationship. The film takes some unexpected twists and turns and there are several bizarre scenes involving Olga's mother (she was great) and her family which culminate in an unusual (if not unpredictable) ending.

This film scores on many levels. The acting, the story, and the cinematography are all top notch. Rutger Hauer's character is especially engaging (I love how he molds trash into art) and he turns in one of the best performances of his career. What really sets Turkish Delight apart from other films though is Verhoeven's willingness to go to the extreme. The graphicness of his films (i.e. violence, sex) is something he has fought the censors and the critics on his whole career. But with good reason, it makes his films more interesting and it sets them apart from conventional cinema. He wants to show it all, and while some of his American films may have been graphic or risque, they are tame compared to Turkish Delight. He held nothing back as a filmmaker on this one.

I can understand why this film ruffled some feathers when it was released in 1973. Somewhere around this time Pauline Kael was writing her famous article for the New Yorker exclaiming Last Tango in Paris as a revolutionary film and Turkish Delight would certainly fall into the same catagory as it. However I think it is even more provocative (in terms of the sex scenes) than Last Tango. Definitely not what I was expecting, but a very good film regardless.

There are many wonderfully descriptive reviews to light the path to this enjoyable film. They are all true--faults and accolades. Hauer fans worldwide should enjoy this DVD.

Initially, the corny, loud 70s music will have you smiling and wondering what you are in for. Hauer's character seems to be a jerk, but he's naked and beautiful. Need I say more. This man is so broad that he appears short! He's 6'2", all man, (so) intoxicating to behold, and naked--through much of the film. His Nordic good looks, thick, defined body, and clear, piercing blue eyes make it hard to care what is going on in the movie.

I won't say it's the best storyline or acting, but once you get into the meat of the film the intensity grabs you. Hauer's character's love for his wife is all-consumming. As a creative person, his feelings and expression are so passionate that his wife is driven away. Of course, she's tapped too.

The love and depth of emotions he feels for her almost kill him when she leaves. But, his love never dies, and he is there when she needs him...even when she is insensible to her needs or his love any longer.

To know how that feels--that depth--when someone is like an opiate to you, is to share Hauer's character's initial joy and subsequent pain; his longing turned to crazed anger and debauchery; and his desire to survive.
All in all, worth watching more than once. Did I mention he's naked? Not a little skin...totally naked and from different angles.

Rutger is one of my favorite actors, and even now as an older gentleman I find him quite handsome, dignified, and wonderful. Hearing his native tongue adds to the film. He is also fluent in German (so I've read).

Rutger Hauer in a Dutch role playing a man who falls in love with a woman who gets cancer. This film takes you through this man's life. A man not necessarily likable, until his heart is stolen by a woman. A tale of irony and romance. A wonderful performance by Hauer and a great opportunity to see what Amsterdam used to look like. Other famous people noted in the credits are Paul verhoeven and Jan de Bont as cameraman.

There are many ways in which love and passion can be manifested in a relationship, but if it is to prevail, it is essential that both sides complement one another, physically, emotionally and psychologically; the feelings borne on the wings of romance must above all else be mutual and deeply instilled on both sides. When they are not, the end result must necessarily be estrangement; it is a law-- not of man, but of nature. In "Turkish Delight," director Paul Verhoeven dissects a relationship born of passion, examines the ramifications of the attitudes and actions of the individuals involved-- as well as the couple they become-- and offers the results to his audience for consideration. Is it, though, a story of love and passion? Yes. But it comes via a route more analogous to the sensibilities of David Cronenberg than Ang Lee; it is decidedly more Craven than Capra. So don't come to this film expecting tender moments; instead, prepare yourself for an offering that is provocative, that is sexually explicit, and finally, graphic in it's more violent moments. This is a film for neither the fainthearted nor the modest, but for the discerning viewer only.

In the first few minutes of this film, we are introduced to Eric Vonk (Rutger Hauer), an artist with a passion for his work, but even more so for experiences that lean more toward the wanton and carnal in aspect. We instantly become voyeurs as he proceeds to overindulge in a series of lusty encounters, an extreme display of irresponsible debauchery that cannot but impel a most unpropitious and subjective first impression on behalf of the viewer, who is forced to bear witness to a man of obvious and insatiable appetites and a tentative moral code. Or so it would seem, initially.

As the story unfolds, however, we begin to understand Eric and what it is that compels him thus; and it begins with a photograph of a beautiful young woman named Olga (Monique van de Ven), the woman with whom Eric once shared his life, love, passion and, yes, his lust. It is obvious from the outset that she is no longer with him, which evokes the question that has to be asked: "Why?" And from that inauspicious beginning, a picture emerges that may not be pretty, and is, in fact, fairly disconcerting. By the end of the film, though, all questions pertaining to Eric Vonk and the mysterious Olga have been answered. The screen grows dark then; but the images to which the viewer has just been made privy are ones that are going to remain in the mind's eye for some time afterwards.

Working from a screenplay by Gerard Soeteman (adapted from the novel by Jan Wolkers), Verhoeven establishes himself as the antithesis of Nora Ephron, presenting his "love" story in terms that are decidedly raw and primitive. Though he does manage to establish the fact that Eric does have deep love for Olga, it is lust that seemingly dominates the picture, and though there is a dramatic twist to the story, it all comes across more like a twisted fairy tale than anything else. Verhoeven uses violence to express the same sentiments Ephron, for example, does through compassion and empathy. But that is his style. It's his prerogative; it's his turf; it's his film. And Verhoeven as much as says to his audience that if you don't like it, you can leave. It's not as if he doesn't have respect for his viewer, though; rather, it seems as if it's something he simply has not considered.

If you can get past the baggage with which Verhoeven inexplicably saddles his own film, there is an interesting, if not riveting, story to be found. But, like Cronenberg's affinity for slime and things that ooze, Verhoeven apparently cannot escape his affinity for violence, even when it works to his detriment. In the case of this film, it results in certain scenes that are too avant-garde to be effective within the context of the overall film. These are scenes in which Eric is hallucinating or day dreaming about particular aspects of his relationship with Olga. They are abrupt insertions into the narrative that simply do not mesh with the flow of the film. The seam left by the weave, as it were, is just too apparent. Beyond the shock value (which is minimum), it just doesn't work.

On the positive side, Verhoeven does extract worthy performances from his stars, Hauer and van de Ven. Hauer, in his feature film debut (and at this point some eight years away from his American film debut in "Nighthawks") displays a natural ability in front of the camera and seems comfortably uninhibited, which enables him to use his rugged good looks to the best advantage. Eric is a complex character of single minded intent, which Hauer conveys quite ably in his performance. Van de Ven also makes her motion picture debut here, and beyond her obvious beauty there is a definite indication of the talent that would soon bring her international acclaim (though her star has yet to rise above the American landscape). Her portrayal of Olga is convincing, and her myriad charms are neither misplaced nor misused by Verhoeven here. And commendably, she manages to transcend the mere use of her physical attributes and create a memorable character with a truly affecting performance.

The supporting cast includes Tonny Huurdeman (Moeder), Wim van den Brink (Vader) and Dolf de Vries (Paul). This film is definitely not for everyone; it fails as entertainment, but succeeds as an examination of the extremes to which we, as humans, are susceptible. "Turkish Delight," then, will be received in any number of different ways. Some will be shocked and appalled by what they see on the screen; others will be offended. And still others will understand that what is depicted here is a very real reflection of things that go on in a very real world, as interpreted by Paul Verhoeven.

The story is so good and the acting so superior that the second half becomes much more than just an exploitation film...

It begins with Eric, a sculptor and chronic woman-chaser, whose wife is dying of a brain tumor...

Eric is so successful with the ladies that he begins collecting their hair, attaching it into his scrapbook... He comes across a striking redhead named Olga, whom he brutally seduces in the car... Instead of cutting her hair, he falls in love with her and chases her all over Holland...

The treatment of sex is stimulating and humorous... It is not graphic, but the performers are quite active and the erotic encounters are exceptionally realistic...

It moves quickly from reality to sexual fantasies combined with daydreams of killing, blood, and vengeance... Despite these outrageous displays, the movie is so full of life and powerful acting that it is more fascinating than repelling...