Jousting & Paul’s Experience (2012)

Directed by: Paul Verhoeven | 32 minutes (Paul’s Experience), 50 minutes (Jack) | documentary (Paul’s Experience), drama (Jack) | Actors: Peter Blok, Robert de Hoog, Sallie Harmsen, Gaite Jansen, Ricky Koole, Carolien Spoor, Jochum ten Haaf, Pieter Tiddens, Ronald van Elderen

People of all ages adore workaholic Paul Verhoeven. With films such as ‘Zwartboek’ (2006), ‘RoboCop’ (1987) and ‘Total Recall’ (1990), he can safely be called the Netherlands’ most successful director. The old hand has been in the movie business for about fifty years and has made just about everything from sci-fi to drama and from thrillers to comedies. However, he is far from retiring and recently decided to start a new, original project called ‘Entertainment Experience’. This interactive concept attempts to integrate cinema with the emerging DIY internet culture by giving the public a say in the production process. Kim van Kooten wrote the first five minutes of the film ‘Steekspel’, after which everyone could send in a subsequent script. Verhoeven and his crew selected the best elements from all the scripts (in the first round there were about seven hundred!) and put together the following minutes, which were also filmed immediately. This process was repeated until a real fifty-minute film was created.

Since the film is so short, the even shorter documentary ‘Paul’s Experience’ will be shown first. We see how Paul experienced and designed the entire project. In addition, we get to see some scenes from the set and from ‘behind the scenes’. Because it is an original concept, it is fascinating to hear how the process worked. Verhoeven says that it was a risk, a step into the unknown and a stressful undertaking without anything to hold on to. Although the director should have spoken a little less in relation to the actors and others involved, the documentary has great added value. Because this is shown before the main film, the viewer is made extra curious, after all the stories of the crew you want to see what the result has become.

Rich businessman Remco (Peter Blok) is under pressure. His company is teetering on the brink of collapse and his affairs are about to be discovered. The uneasy atmosphere is already there from the first scenes when Remco reluctantly throws a birthday party. The intrigue gets more complex by the minute, you never know for sure what is true and what is not. Nadja (Sallie Harmsen) claims to be pregnant, daughter Lieke (Carolien Spoor) does not trust her best friend and Remco’s business partners behave rather strangely. How this will end, however, only becomes clear in the last minutes…

The title could not have been chosen better. The whole plot is one big game, both between the characters and between the filmmakers and the audience. The plot twists keep piling up and the events get more and more bizarre. Contrary to expectations, the whole still feels realistic and although heavy subjects are discussed, Verhoeven manages to remain humorous, playful and frivolous. Dutch traditionally simple and down-to-earth nature is clearly on the surface. ‘Stookspel’ only lasts fifty minutes, but it feels like a full-fledged film. The fragmented nature of ‘Entertainment Experience’ is visible through the many plot twists, but technically the film is a whole. This is clever since the actors had no idea what would happen in the following scenes during the shooting, so the viewer is not the only one who is ignorant. The innovative concept is enough reason to watch ‘Stiekspel’, but apart from that, Verhoeven has once again done a fine piece of directing. The mostly novice actors also do well and manage to keep you on the edge of your seat for almost an hour.