Carice van Houten & co in "Komt een vrouw bij de dokter" BR720 [Netherlands 2009]

Reinout Oerlemans' romantic drama, "Komt een vrouw bij de dokter - Een ode aan de liefde" [Eng. Title: A Woman Goes to the Doctor - An Ode to Love, aka Stricken] is your typical mainstream film that touches on a cocktail of issues without getting too deep - issues like unconditional love, infidelity, cancer, and euthanasia are largely examined skin-deep in this heady melodrama filled with beautiful people.

Even if I knew what the film was about, I bought the DVD without too much expectations, it was bought purely for the beautiful Carice van Houten. In that respect, I haven't been disappointed. The cinematography is also pleasing to the eye (even more so in blu-ray), and while the soundtrack is a bit hit and miss bordering on the cheesy at times, you have some decent performance by the main cast which makes it worthwhile sitting through. While the screenplay too leaves you with mixed emotions - it is not easy to dismiss the film altogether, but this is definitely one for van Houten fans..!

Amazon DVD Link




Storyline:
Playboy Stijn meets and falls in love with colleague at work Carmen, they immediately marry and start a family. But despite his marriage, Stijn couldn't help sleeping around at any given opportunity. Carmen tolerates his infidelity - according to him, as though it were a bad habit, like picking nose. Carmen is diagnosed for breast cancer and had to go through painful chemotherapy sessions before eventually getting one of her breasts removed. Just when she seemed to have conquered the disease, it returns with a vengeance, spreading to the liver. Unable to bear Carmen's pain, Stijn resorts to having an affair with Roos, which almost ends in divorce. But Carmen accepts him back (rather too easily, me thinks) and they stick together until her health deteriorates to the extent that it renders her immobile with no control over her body. The film culminates in Carmen ending it all through assisted suicide, which perhaps is the most moving scene in the film.




Compilation: Carice van Houten, Anna Drijver, and others
While I own the DVD with the original audio, I made the compilation using a German-dubbed version from blu-ray, mainly for its visual appeal...



Scene Guide:

• First date - Carmen invites Stijn for a nightcap. Carmen of course is played by the beautiful Carice van Houten. They get married.
• Stijn fooling around with some girls during a business trip.
• Carmen and Stijn spend time in the field after they're informed she has cancer.
• Getting ready for, and then undergoing chemotherapy.
• And the immediate aftermath...
• While Carmen is in another chemotherapy session, Stijn is having it with Esther at a club, played by Anne Marie Michels.
• Stijn in bed caressing Carmen's bruised left breast - it is about to be amputated soon. She feels sorry for him because he's after all a 'tits' man..!
• A weird imagined scene where a dancing girl rips off one of her breasts. :-(
• Carmen examining her scar, post-operation...
• Stijn had been eyeing painter Roos for a while - he finally succeeds, and couldn't wait for even the elevator to take them to their floor in this hot scene. Roos is played by the rather sultry looking Anna Drijver.
• Another one of their meetings and we get an 'artistic' view through Drijver's shirt. :)
• After being declared free from cancer, Carmen and Stijn try to rejuvenate their relationship at an exotic island getaway. Darkly lit scene with brief nudity.
• When they discover Carmen had developed cancer again, Stijn in desperation comes looking for Roos. Possibly the most charged sex scene in the film.
• Followed by a mutual body-painting session - nice..!
• Another pretty looking post-coital chat scene of Stijn and Roos in bed.
• Last fleeting glimpse of Roos dancing in the nude.

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Carice van Houten in "Zwartboek" BR720 [Netherlands, Germany 2006]

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The 2006 World War II drama "Zwartboek" [Eng. Title: Black Book] is the most recently completed film by Paul Verhoeven. It's also his first European film in a while after a long stint in Hollywood.

The film is set in occupied Netherlands, when wealthy Jews are promised safe passage out of the country only to be double-crossed and handed over to Nazis for slaughter. A young Jewish woman Ellis de Vries, played by true classical beauty Carice van Houten, escapes one such assault and volunteers to join the local Resistance. She's assigned the dangerous task of infiltrating the Nazi headquarters and win the trust of the Commander Ludwig Muntze. She changes her name to 'Rachel Stein' and takes up the job of Ludwig's secretary, and soon enough manages to seduce him. She passes on secret intelligence of forthcoming operations to the Resistance, but soon realises someone from within the resistance is passing information about the intelligence leak back to the Nazis. She finds herself trapped, on the one hand by the Resistance who believe her reports are unreliable, perhaps even accusing her for joining the Nazis, and on the other hand the Nazi command, who are beginning to close-in on her. Things are complicated further when the relationship between 'Rachel' and Ludwig develops into something more than simply sexual.

Both in terms of creative input and technical aspects, this is a very well made film and personally, I'm glad Mr. Verhoeven started making films in Europe again. Recommended viewing!

The scenes below were cut from Blu-ray.



Scene 1:
Preparing for her new 'Aryan' identity, 'Rachel' makes sure even her nether regions look the part - and she also gladly obliges her Resistance colleague before embarking on her assignment.







Scene 2:
At her new job, 'Rachel' makes good use of an invitation from her boss to look at his 'stamp collection' at his quarters. After discovering 'Rachel' isn't a true blonde, Ludwig inspects her face and asks why her features look Jewish. In reply 'Rachel' asks rhetorically whether her breasts, or for that matter her vagina looks Jewish too. It's hard to tell, if you ask me..!







Scene 3:
Rachel makes acquaintance with Ronnie - a 'secretary' to Ludwig's colleague, who enters the bathroom to take a leak. A playful Ronnie opens Rachel's shirt and asks his opinion on her breasts. When he tries to grope her, she reminds him that it is the commander's property.







Scene 4:
Ludwig begins to suspect that someone is passing on information to the Resistance, and corners Rachel one evening, but we soon realise he's also in love with her.







Scene 5:
Ronnie becomes Rachel's trusting friend. In this scene, she pretends to be drunk and allows the guards to grope her, so that Rachel could sneak out to release some Resistance members. Ronnie is played by Halina Reijn.







Scene 6:
The Allies liberate Netherlands, and 'Rachel' - Ellis is now accused of having slept with the enemy. She's held along with other Nazi prisoners and humiliated publicly, until one of her past colleagues in the Resistance recognises and rescues her.








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