Zwartboek (Black Book) - Preview
Preview by Jack Foley
DUTCH director Paul Verhoeven (of Basic Instinct/Showgirls fame) has returned to his native Netherlands for the World War II drama Zwartboek (Black Book).
The eagerly-anticipated film will receive its premiere at the Venice Film Festival where it will play in competition against the likes of Brian De Palma’s The Black Dahlia.
The film tells the story of Jewish woman Rachel Steinn (played by Dutch actress Carice van Houten) who joins The Hague resistance during WWII after the Germans have murdered the rest of her family.
She is subsequently asked to seduce a German official when the son of the resistence leader is placed in danger but quickly finds herself in the middle of danger and deception, from which she has to prove her loyalty to the Dutch after being betrayed.
Her search for the person who betrayed her continues after the war has ended.
The film was written by Verhoeven with Gerard Soeteman, with whom he collaborated on the hugely successful WWII drama Soldaat van Oranje (Soldier of Orange), the film that launched the international careers of both Verhoeven and countryman Jan de Bont (Speed) but also its stars Rutger Hauer and Jeroen Krabbé.
Aside from van Houten, Zwartboek boasts a cast including Halina Reijn, Thom Hoffman, Sebastian Koch, Johnny De Mol and Christian Berkel. It is a Dutch-Anglo-German co-production that was shot entirely on location in the Netherlands.
Zwartboek has been a long-held dream for the director, who had intended to complete it for a release in the Netherlands in September 2005.
However, when the director was forced to undergo unexpected heart surgery, the project was postponed.