TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE 9 | 5 INTRODUCTION 17 The Unrealized Potential of Dutch ‘Art’ Cinema 21 The Gargling Sounds of Dutch 27 Sex Sells, To Some Extent 29 Scenes from a Marriage: Psychoanalysis and Cinema 35 The Imaginary, the Symbolic, the Real: Three Cameos by Fons Rademakers 37 Cinephilia Ties the Book Together 44 1 SPITTING IMAGES, BLIND SPOTS, AND DARK MIRRORS 55 From Ideal Ego to Ego-Ideal: ALS TWEE DRUPPELS WATER 57 Putting on a Charade: SÜSKIND 63 Hair, Hair, Flow it, (Do Not) Show it: MILO 69 No Sheiks of Baghdad: GEBROKEN SPIEGELS 72 The Ambiguity of (an) Avatar: R U THERE 75 Traversing the Fantasy 79 A Tale of Two Sisters: ZWART WATER 82 Conclusion: Through a Glass Darkly 85 2 IN THE NAME OF FATHERS—OVERBEARING, FLYING, OR OTHERWISE 91 A Preacher Teacher, A Mouthpiece of his Wife, and an Irresponsible Bon Vivant 96 Father as a Memory-Image: PERVOLA, SPOREN IN DE SNEEUW 100 Great Pretenders: BLOED, ZWEET & TRANEN; LEK, and KARAKTER 102 First Reformed Fathers: The Sub-Genre of Religious Fervour 113 Pathetic Fathers as Addressee: DE AVONDEN and ABEL 117 A (Broken) Chain of Dead Fathers: GLUCKAUF 120 Restoring the Image of the Father 124 In Search of the Imaginary Father: DE VLIEGENDE HOLLANDER 126 Conclusion: Three Fathers 129 3 THAT OBSCURE OBJECT OF DESIRE 135 Amour Fou: Love Romances In Dialogue with French Cinema 140 Posthumous Infatuation: HAVINCK 144 Love Regained at the Point of Dying: DE GROT 147 The Pros and Cons of Good Etiquette: HET MEISJE EN DE DOOD and WILDSCHUT 151 Love after an Act of Violence: DE POOLSE BRUID 155 Perhaps Love: BOVEN IS HET STIL 156 6 | The Frequency of Love: 170 HZ and OUT OF LOVE 158 Only the Bastards: HEMEL and INSTINCT 161 The Devil’s Advocate: LOOS 165 Conclusion: Desire of the Other 167 4 FROM ORDINARY MEN AND RABBLES TO HEROES 175 Accidental ‘Hero’: SOLDAAT VAN ORANJE 177 Female Daredevils: PASTORALE 1943 and HET MEISJE MET HET RODE HAAR 181 The Partisan and the Schemer: IN DE SCHADUW VAN DE OVERWINNING 184 The Joke of Being a Hero: DE IJSSALON 187 Du Kannst, Denn Du Sollst: BEYOND SLEEP versus DOKTER PULDER ZAAIT PAPAVERS 189 The Fury of a Patient Man: FLANAGAN 195 In There, No One Can Hear You Scream: SPOORLOOS 197 Conclusion: Capable of Excess 202 5 PARANOIA, PSYCHOSIS, THE HORRIFIC-FANTASTIC 225 A Killer in the Canals: AMSTERDAMNED 228 Existential Isolation: PARANOIA 230 Lady in the Lake: VAN DE KOELE MEREN DES DOODS 251 Memoirs of a Nerve Patient: SHOCK HEAD SOUL 241 A Cyborg Messiah: ROBOCOP 245 Dutch ExistenZ: DE MARIONETTENWERELD and WERELD VAN STILSTAND 247 Dark Water: DE POEL 251 One Sister-bride for Seven Brothers in a Dutch Slasher: DE JOHNSONS 254 Conclusion: Stranger Things 257 6 PASSAGES À L’ACTE 265 A Calculated Blackout: JOÃO EN HET MES 269 Murderous Acts With or Without Actors: ROOIE SIEN and HET TEKEN VAN HET BEEST 271 Licence to Ride a Cab: NACHTRIT 274 Each Man Kills the Thing He Loves: TIRZA 277 It’s Oh So Quiet: ONDER ONS 280 Chronicle of a Death Foretold: SCHEMER 283 I’m Deranged: VAN GOD LOS 285 Requiem for a Champ: WOLF 293 Conclusion: Where Is My Mind? 295 7 FROM HISTORICAL DISCOMFORT TO HISTORICAL TRAUMA 299 ‘Thy Paths of Righteousness’: MAX HAVELAAR 301 A Constitutional Habit of Stinging: DE SCHORPIOEN 305 | 7 Song to the Siren: HET ZWIJGEN 310 Smooth Catholic Criminals: DE BENDE VAN OSS 312 Strategic Masquerades: ZWARTBOEK 314 A Dutch RASHOMON: DE AANSLAG 321 Time Out of Joint: LEEDVERMAAK 324 Death and the Maiden: CHARLOTTE 329 Married to the Mob: LAYLA M. 332 Conclusion: What Time Is It There? 335 8 APHANISIS 343 Guilty of Desire: AMNESIA 346 Gender Trouble: MONSIEUR HAWARDEN 350 Farmer Seeks Wife: KRACHT 353 Rewriting Brueghel into Utopian Feminism: ANTONIA 355 Take These Broken Wings: BLUEBIRD 357 Haptic Effects (With a Proviso) 361 Ascetic Styles: GUERNSEY and BROWNIAN MOVEMENT 364 Leave No Trace: CODE BLUE and NOTHING PERSONAL 367 Winter Sonata: VERDWIJNEN 372 Dancing in the Dark: LENA 374 Conclusion: The Discomfort of Strangers 376 9 HYSTERIA, NEUROSIS, PERVERSION 385 Portrait of a Lady: ELINE VERE 389 Runaway ‘Mother’: NADINE 391 Call Me By My—Not Your—Name: BLACK BUTTERFLIES 394 A Walking Contradiction with Prussian Sour: MYSTERIES 396 Mother and Son with Champagne and Mozart: DE WITTE WAAN 403 Unruly Behaviour: PENTIMENTO versus SPETTERS and SHOWGIRLS 406 Karma Chameleon: ELLE 410 Enjoying It Like a Virgin: FLESH + BLOOD 415 A Calvinist Pervert: BRIMSTONE 420 Conclusion: Ciphered Messages and Silent Contracts 424 EPILOGUE 433 Awakenings: SOLDAAT VAN ORANJE, TURKS FRUIT and BORGMAN 437 BIBLIOGRAPHY 443 FILMOGRAPHY 453 8 | INDEX OF CONCEPTS 463 INDEX OF FILMS 467 INDEX OF NAMES 477 .