The Wrestler (1970)

Directed by: Paul Verhoeven | 20 minutes | drama, short film | Actors: Jon Bluming, Bernard Droog, Marielle Fiolet, Wim Zomer

The first film in which Verhoeven collaborated with Jan de Bont is ‘The Wrestler’, a very amusing film of just under twenty minutes, in which Wim Zomer is chased by his father because he has a relationship with the wife of a great wrestler. . Like his movie about the Marine Corps, ‘The Wrestler’ has an attractive pace, with well-timed situational jokes, and fun renditions. Jon Bluming as the father is especially entertaining in his reactions to what he sees his son up to. Then again he holds a hand to his head to be able to spy on his son in the cafe, or he laughs like a peasant with a toothache when his son turns out to win in a fight with the wrestler, losing his bet and his son can continue to hang out with the woman. But Wim Zomer is also quite nice as the licentious lad who prefers to walk in seven locks at once, and at the end of the film has to save his clean body against the wrestler. He has discovered his wife’s infidelity and now thinks, through a misunderstanding, that the father is having an affair with his wife.

A smooth film with slapstick moments and an attractive tone, this ‘De Wrestelaar’, and understandably the start of a successful collaboration between cameraman de Bont and Verhoeven, who would make many more films together, including ‘Turkish Fruit’, ‘De Vierde Man’, and ‘Basic Instinct’.