Turks fruit (1973)

Director:

Paul Verhoeven

Writers:

Gerard Soeteman (writer)
Jan Wolkers (novel)

Release Date:

September 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Sort of a cross between "Love Story" and an earthy Rembrandt painting, this movie stars Rutger Hauer as a gifted Dutch sculptor who has a stormy...

Plot Keywords:

Love | Sculptor | Marriage | Jealousy | Sculpture

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win

Cast

Monique van de Ven	...	Olga Stapels
Rutger Hauer	...	Eric Vonk, the sculptor
Tonny Huurdeman	...	Olga's mother
Wim van den Brink	...	Olga's father
Hans Boskamp	...	Winkelchef
Dolf de Vries	...	Paul
Manfred de Graaf	...	Henny
Dick Scheffer	...	Accountant
Marjol Flore	...	Tineke
Bert Dijkstra	...	Civil servant
Bert André
Jon Bluming
Paul Brandenburg
Suze Broks		(as Suzie Broks)
David Conyers

Also Known As:

Eric and Olga (USA) (poster title)
The Sensualist (UK)
Turkish Delight (USA) (video title)
Wild Intent (UK) (video title)

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

Netherlands

Language:

Dutch

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Netherlands:16 (DVD rating) | Iceland:16 | Germany:16 (re-rating) (2007) | Finland:K-18 | Netherlands:12 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 (uncut) | USA:R | West Germany:18 | Ireland:(Banned) | Argentina:18 | UK:X (original rating) (cut) | USA:X (self applied) | Norway:(Banned) (1973-2003) (cinema release)

Filming Locations:

Alkmaar, Noord-Holland, Netherlands

Company:

Verenigde Nederlandsche Filmcompagnie (VNF)

Trivia:

All cars driven by the actors are from the British Leyland Consortium.

Goofs:

Continuity: The level of "poisoned" gin on the beach changes from high to low and back to high as scene changes.

Quotes:

Eric Vonk: I screw better than God.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Diep (2005)

A strong, vital Dutch lovestory

A relative of the earlier Lovestory (1970) - complete with sine qua non bittersweet denouement - Turkish Delight's dramatic device is a wrong-side-of-the-tracks match. Rutger Hauer's virile, semi-feral sculptor Erik falls for a similarly carefree Hippie in Monique van de Ven's Olga. Their unstoppable union has to negotiate the barely tacit disapproval of her bourgeois parents.

What's interesting here though is that Verhoeven takes great care to neither judge characters nor cast them as straightforward pro- or an-tagonists. The couple's raw youth is magnetic (there are a number of stunts patently performed without doubles) but their irreverence can occasionally be as awkward as it is entertaining. Similarly, the outwardly stuffy parents and their coterie have a (characteristically Dutch) tolerance for the brash, carefree couple. The heartrending close to the film comes not by cause of intractable opposition between the groups but as an example of their ultimate similarity despite it.

Verhoeven uses Speed director Jan de Bont as his DoP. Their collaboration is a feast of (meticulously framed) perpetual motion and zest, the very equal of Hauer's reeling id-boy. But it's not just a document of raucous youth getting it on. Verhoeven catches all the beauty and pathos of Dutch lovers caught in the post-60s cul-de-sac. 7/10