Review: Character (1997)
James Berardinelli
CHARACTER (KARAKTER)
A Film Review by James Berardinelli
RATING: *** OUT OF ****
Netherlands, 1997
U.S. Release Date: 5/98 (limited)
Running Length: 2:00
MPAA Classification: R (Violence, sexuality)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Cast: Fedja Van Huet, Jan Decleir, Betty Schuurman, Victor Low,
Tamar van den Dop, Hans Kesting
Director: Mike van Diem
Producer: Laurens Geels
Screenplay: Mike van Diem, Laurens Geels, Ruud van Megen based on the
novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk
Cinematography: Rogier Stoffers
Music: Paleis van Boem
U.S. Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
In Duch with subtitles
CHARACTER, the winner of the 1998 Oscar for Best Foreign Language
Film, is a fine motion picture about the relationships within a
dysfunctional family in the Netherlands during the 1930s. Even though
the movie is set three-quarters of a century after Charles Dickens
penned his final novel, CHARACTER has the feel of something written by
the beloved Victorian author, with perhaps a little Franz Kafka mixed in
for good measure.
The film tells the story of Katadreuffe (Fedja Van Huet), a young
man who has made his mark in the world despite the conspiracy of
numerous, diverse forces to keep him suppressed. As a child, he wasn't
an orphan, but he might as well have been. His unmarried mother, Joba
(Betty Schuurman), is a harsh, unloving woman who rarely speaks to her
son. His father, Dreverhaven (Jan Decleir), is the city's most detested
bailiff, whose motto is "the law without compassion." After being
rejected by Joba, Dreverhaven wants nothing to do with his son, and
works actively to place obstacles in his path. The struggle between
Katadreuffe and Dreverhaven turns into a personal war of attrition.
This fuels Katadreuffe's single-minded goal to rise through the legal
system, but costs him a chance at true happiness.
Through his entire life, Katadreuffe is impelled by a need to
escape from the shame of his birth and upbringing. He uses
Dreverhaven's contempt as a catalyst to push himself harder. Dr. De
Gankelaar (Victor Low), a lawyer who represents Katadreuffe in a
bankruptcy hearing, sees great potential in the young man, and takes him
on as an assistant. From there, using money borrowed from Dreverhaven's
bank, Katadreuffe applies himself exclusively to his studies in law.
Unfortunately, his lack of social experience causes him to miss the
subtle signs of attraction being exhibited by a co-worker (Tamar van den
Dop), thereby ruining his lone opportunity at a happy marriage.
Although Katadreuffe is CHARACTER's protagonist, the most
fascinating individual in the film is Dreverhaven, who is played with a
combination of malice and world-weariness by veteran actor Jan Decleir
(ANTONIA'S LINE). Dreverhaven's motives are far more complex than those
of a typical villain. Underneath his cold, harsh exterior, he is
tortured by inner demons and permanently scarred by the sting of his
rejected marriage proposal. His feelings towards his son are unclear --
a mixture of shame, anger, bitterness, and, curiously, perhaps even
pride. He claims that his financial assault is designed to strengthen
Katadreuffe's character ("I'll strangle him for nine-tenths, and the
last tenth will make him strong," he states at one point), but it's
really an attempt to assert control and prove his superiority. Despite
all of his money and his respected position in society, Dreverhaven is
filled with self-loathing and a disgust with the odious process of
living. He risks his life frequently, causing many to wonder whether
he's brave or seeking his own death.
Dickensian elements abound, from the travails of the poverty-
stricken masses to the struggles of an (almost) orphan. Director Mike
van Diem has crafted the look of Rotterdam in the 1930s to resemble
London of a century earlier (just replace the motor cars with horses-
and-buggies). Politics play a small-but-important role in the film as
Katadreuffe enjoys a brief flirtation with the communist movement, which
stands in direct opposition to Dreverhaven and all that he stands for.
Ultimately, everything comes down to the relationship between
Katadreuffe and Dreverhaven, and the manner in which their constant
power struggle shapes their futures.
Actually, as it turns out, Dreverhaven doesn't have a future. The
film, which is structured as a series of flashbacks, starts with
Katadreuffe being brought in for questioning by the police after
Dreverhaven has been found murdered. Unfortunately, this approach
allows director Mike van Diem to employ one of my least-liked narrative
techniques -- the voice-over. And, as is almost always the case with
this device, it is overused.
While CHARACTER tells an interesting story with well-developed
characters, its Academy Awards victory is somewhat irksome, since I
found it to be inferior to fellow nominee, BEYOND SILENCE. Since both
films are destined to receive some sort of distribution, viewers will be
able to decide for themselves which is the better movie. However,
regardless of which one you prefer, one thing is certainly clear:
CHARACTER and BEYOND SILENCE offer the kind of emotional depth and
resonance that has become rare in Hollywood productions.
Copyright 1998 James Berardinelli
- James Berardinelli
e-mail: bera...@mail.cybernex.net
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either leave them up or you leave them down."
-- David Puttnam
Jun Yan
Review: Character/Karakter
(The Netherlands, 1997)
Written and directed by: Mike van Diem
Produced by: Laurens Geels
Cinematography by: Rogier Stoffers
Music by: Paleis van Boem
Actors: Fedja van Huet, Jan Decleir, Betty Shuurman, Tamar van den Dop,
Victor Low.
Based on novel by F. Bordewijk.
On a dark afternoon, a young man named Katadreuffe is just sworn in as a
lawyer. The way he chooses to celebrate this achievement is to visit his
enemy, a court bailiff named Dreverhaven and slam a knife on his desk.
Later we see Katadreuffe leaving the building covered with blood. Soon
we learn that Dreverhaven was stabbed to death with the very same knife,
and the new lawyer is arrested on suspicion of murder. This provides a
setup for him to unfold his life story through the police interrogation.
Set in the 1920's Rotterdam, "Character" is a good-looking piece of
melodrama from the first-time director Mike van Diem. It follows
Katadreuffe's life, out of wedlock from a one-night stand between the
brooding and stony bailiff Dreverhaven and his housekeeper Joba. She
refuses his marriage proposal and raises her son alone. He grows up with
strong resentment for his father, and Dreverhaven's action does not help
to improve this relationship either. He sets numerous obstacles in his
son's road to success, only to watch him jump through the hurdles one
after another by the young man's stubborn and persistant effort. The
tension between father and son continues to escalate to the point that
it finally ends with a knife.
The weakness and the appeal of "Character" is its unrestrained passion
displayed among the three members of the family, especially between
Dreverhaven and Katadreuffe. Hate mixed with love flying and spilling all
over the place, it is easy to be affected, yet hard to completely
understand these characters' motivation and minds. The most
puzzling and contradictory person is Deverhaven. He appears to
be a ruthless, terrifying man who throws poor people out of their homes
into the streets. He seems to enjoy making life difficult for his own
son. On the other hand, he has his reasons -- he believes building
one's character requires hardship and endurance. Ironically, it all works
very well for his son. He does not disgard Joba when she is pregnant,
even though he has forced her. Instead he kept asking her "When is our
wedding?" He is clearly tired of living, and makes attempts to get
himself killed only to fail. One can only speculate his degeration to
such a sad existence since the movie refuses to give us any clue about
why. He is the mysterious father figure that no one understands. Jan
Decleir has a truly chilling presence on screen as a heavy, intimidating
figure of power, authority and ruthlessness that the mere sight of him in
that black coat and hat can inflict instant fear in the hearts of the poor
and of his own son. He doesn't have many words, but always casts a shadow
everywhere in the film.
If the father is intimidating, the mother is no more approachable. She
seems to enjoy being the only person in the world to drive the mighty
Deverhaven crazy. She ignores the boy's emotional needs forever. She
hardly even says a word. Years later, when her son asks why she did not
marry when his father proposed to her, she is still a stone wall. She is
so cold and distant that it is almost inhuman. Again no explanation is
provided and she remains mysterious until she takes all her secrets into
the grave.
With dysfunctional parents like these, it is no wonder that Katadreufe is
emotionally messed up. He is a passionate child, with no one to turn to.
He turns out to be unable to release himself from the extreme desire to
piss off his father, or perhaps subconsciously to please him and meet his
expectations. As stubborn and proud as his parents are, he fights his way
up in a small law firm from the lowest level. By a faint light, we fancy
the same kind of self-torturing hard struggle in a young Deverhaven years
ago, and the same kind of disillusion when he gets everything he had
wanted, yet realizes that he has lost any chance to find love and a
healthy normal life. The line between love and hate is blurred. When his
mother is so indifferent to him, we suspect that even the harsh treatment
from his father is welcome deep down in Katadreuffe's mind -- at least he
gives a damn about him, even if it's mean-spirited.
Compared to this really dysfunctional family, the movie provides a couple
of rather interesting supporting roles. Lorna Te George is Katadreuffe's
office coworker who is let down by his failure to express his love for her
(because of whatever demon he has). De Gankelaar is K.'s boss and mentor
who tries to substitute for a sensible and loving father to him. He has a
protruding jaw that reminds me of Billy Bob Thornton's Karl Childers in
"Sling Blade", with a warm and understated tenderness. K.'s only friend
Jan, his mother tenant, is a fun-loving young man and a communist. These
are K.'s only chance to escape his family and connect to a normal
emotional world, but his blood and destiny pulls him back to his dark
father.
As a directorial debut, Mike van Diem displays a great deal of confidence
and sophistication in his work. The tension and passions are pushed to
the highest level, because he never tries to hold it back. Such approach
often leads to something completely over-the-top, but the nice
performances by the entire cast have prevented it. Instead, we are
affected by them rather than feeling silly or disbelief. He also shows a
very sure hand in the movement of camera and the transitions between two
scenes. It's a good thing that van Diem refuses to explain everything to
us including what's on the characters' minds, but some crucial points
become too vague for the audience to identify with or understand. Another
problem is that the tone throughout the movie is so decidedly and
stubbornly dark and suffocating, that it becomes rather humorless and a
bit too heavy from time to time.
If the direction is not quite over-the-top, unfortunately the music is.
Always ready to increase the sense of fear, rage, hatred, pain, etc. etc.,
it is just too much. I feel that the music tries too hard to tell the
story that it loses its effect after a while, as if it was trying to
scream at the audience to tell them how they should feel.
The things I enjoy the most about this film are the cinematography and
production design. Filmed in Poland to replicate the scenery of an old
Rotterdam, it is full of symbolic tall and dark buildings that cast
shadows of terror upon one's heart. The cinematography is truly gorgeous
and breath-taking. With most scenes shot in the rain, at night, in the
shadows of the houses and under cloudy skies, it effectively creates the
moody world of despair and melancholy. It is a perfect example of
beautiful camera work becoming a central element of the movie. It is
simply wonderful to look at.
Overall, I find it a quite handsomely done piece of work. I have to
admit that I enjoy watching such bold effort to throw passions at the
audience without holding back. Grade: B+.
jun
ps. I was rather disappointed to find out that someone beat me at pointing
out the fact that "Character" and "Star Wars" have strong similarities.