Character (1997)

Directed by: Mike van Diem | 122 minutes | drama, thriller | Actors: Jan Decleir, Fedja van Huêt, Betty Schuurman, Tamar van den Dop, Victor Löw, Hans Kesting, Lou Landré, Bernard Droog

The eternal discussion about the one-sidedness of the Dutch film – authentic war drama versus flat sex – can surely be concluded with the Oscar for ‘Character’ in 1998: Mike van Diem’s ​​drama is complete and mature. With Dutch elements such as Calvinist patience and austerity, but with a powerful universal theme: the struggle between father and son. The foundation for this successful film was laid with the monumental work of Ferdinand Bordewijk, who created multi-dimensional heroes and villains with Katadreuffe and Dreverhaven in his novel ‘Character’. Jacob Willem Katadreuffe is a good-natured striver, determined by his youth, who also misses opportunities – especially in love – and Dreverhaven is a hard-hearted man who cannot handle emotions. Add to this the proudly immobilized mother Joba and you get a cocktail of silent sorrow and vitality; put that in a movie.

‘Character’ impresses from the start in an un-Dutch way, with beautiful location shots of pre-war Rotterdam, shot in Antwerp and Hamburg, cities with relatively intact harbor quarters. There is no sign of the alleged Dutch frugality in this area; the attention to interiors and clothing is equally admirable. This gives ‘Character’ a ‘brown’ atmosphere. The actors are no less important for authenticity: Fedja van Huêt is blue and passionate, light and dark at the same time. His acting is not even that striking, but completely fitting in the chiaroscuro of the camera shots. It is the menacing Jan Decleir who characterologically dominates the film; with his physical yet cool acting style, he makes Dreverhaven a classic. Dreverhaven’s powerlessness at the end is unforgettable and even threatens to cast deep shadows over Katadreuffe’s fate in the film. We care about him and we want him to succeed in life. However, there is always that ‘Old Testament God’ Dreverhaven, who sees vengeance as love, unhindered by Joba, who seems paralyzed by fate and only shows love for her son with words like “Herewith two shirts…”

We would have liked to have heard more about her motives, but it would go too far to attribute that criticism to the makers. In any case, Betty Schuurman makes Joba an unfathomably flat woman. There is still a nice role for Victor Löw as Katadreuffe’s patron De Gankelaar, who steals the show with his dry humor and impressive lower lip. Löw and Decleir are nevertheless essential in the success of the film, which without their input would have suffered from stylized costume drama acting, especially in the dialogues of Jacob and beloved Lorna (Tamar van den Dop).
What remains is the thriller element in the film, which is picked up well at the beginning and returns all the more powerfully at the end. The Oscar for best foreign film gives ‘Character’ the appreciation it deserves as an internationally enjoyable, carefully made European film.