AnhartLinkin
This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.
InformationRap
This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
Justina
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
Mr_Ectoplasma
Paul Verhoeven's earlier Dutch thriller follows a superstitious writer (Jeroen Krabbe) who meets an eccentric woman attending one of his public seminars and begins an affair with her; while staying at her home for an extended period, he is plagued with disturbing visions and incidents, and becomes infatuated with one of her other male lovers.Fans of Verhoeven's neo-noir classic "Basic Instinct" should find plenty of interest here, as the films cross paths in terms of some thematics and the cinematic aspect of the lover's triad, though "The Fourth Man" is actually a much better film in some ways. While not as remarkably violent as some of his other work, it is a solid and transfixing thriller that is as perturbing as it is engaging; as off putting as it is erotic. Verhoeven wears influences on his sleeve, clearly drawing on ye good old days of American Hollywood noir with spatterings of Alfred Hitchcock and Ingmar Bergman for good taste. The touches of surrealism are prevalent enough to arrest the audience, but are still left in an inconspicuous enough territory to be debated and thought provoking. Never does the film edge into gaudiness, which is another remarkable feat here— the surrealist colorings are wholly immersed in the reality of the story, blending into an endless portrait of premonitions, fears, and paranoia that is still firmly anchored in a cohesive plot.Remarkable performances here from Jeroen Krabbé and Renée Soutendijk, as well as Thom Hoffman's understated performance as the object of Krabbé's intense sexual affections. Among a multitude of other things, the film is truly a pioneer of queer cinema, brazen in its depiction of male homosexuality and laden with surprisingly baffling religious, supernatural, and feminist themes that are difficult to decipher in spite of their obvious existence within.No less, "The Fourth Man" is one of the most transfixing thrillers of its time, brilliantly crafting the surreal alongside the darker aspects of film noir, all taken to understated extremes. While many people probably think of David Lynch as the first filmmaker to do this, you may be surprised to know that Paul Verhoeven was toying with similar elements back in Netherlands in the 1980s; while Lynch infamously took this to subconscious levels, Verhoeven rather leaves us somewhere in the middle— in a dream, or maybe in a nightmare. 9/10.
cliffo88
One of the best filmmakers to come out of Europe in the 1970s, Paul Verhoeven amassed a superb portfolio of work as a director in the Netherlands. De Vierde Man is Verhoeven's sixth film – his last before moving to Hollywood – and continues, in fine form, from his masterful back catalogue. The film is a Hitchockian-like thriller, as a writer becomes involved with rich femme fatale and subsequently discovers that she's already disposed of three husbands and fears he could be the fourth man of the title. Quite a mainstream thriller then. Ha, not with Verhoeven behind the camera; there's plenty of artsy symbolism, outrageous religious imagery (seriously, the Church of Holland must've gone absolutely bonkers over the scene in the cathedral!), a gay romance sub-plot, plus the usual sex and violence to frequent Verhoeven's work – you won't see that in any blockbuster this summer! The acting from Verhoeven regular Jeroen Krabbé and Renée Soutendijk (from Spetters) is also excellent. Incidentally, Verhoeven claims to have added the symbolism to appease the Dutch film critics who mauled his previous masterpiece, Spetters, for being overly sensationalist and devoid of morals.
capkronos
I don't know if I'd consider it a masterpiece of not, but it's damn near close; it's extremely well made, artistic, suspenseful, intricately plotted, thematically challenging and full of bleak foreshadowing and sexual-religious imagery. There's also some great camera-work from Jan de Bont, an atmospheric score from Loek Dikker and outstanding acting from Jeroen Krabbé and Renée Soutendijk, the latter giving one of the most sneaky, subtle 'femme fatale' performance I've ever seen. Like many other European movies, this movie has an unashamed, non-judgmental attitude toward sex, nudity and the complexities of sexuality and has zero reservations about mixing it all up with religious and/or surrealistic (some would say blasphemous) images. In other words, if you can't bear the thought of seeing a lust-driven homosexual envisioning the object of his carnal desire as Jesus crucified on the cross before the two of them go at it inside a cemetery crypt then this might not be the movie for you. What surprised me more is how this bizarre movie managed to completely dodge being a pretentious mess. It mixes the abstract/surreal/parallel fantasy-reality scenes and somehow makes it all work. Like any good mystery, you can see the pieces slowly falling into place as the movie progresses. There is NOT an out-of-left-field resolution here. The movie has direction, there's no needless filler and once it concludes, you begin to understand the purpose of what may have confused you earlier. If you like the work of Ken Russell and David Lynch, I can almost guarantee you will love this movie. Hell, if you have no idea who they even are, you still might like it.I'm not going to spoil the plot by getting too detailed, but the film's opening shot - through a web as a spider catches its prey - sets the stage as Krabbé, as unshaven, smug, bisexual writer Gerard Reve (interestingly, also the name of the writer whose novel this is based on) crosses paths with a wealthy, mysterious, sexy woman named Christine (Soutendijk, melding androgynous stylings with Simone Simon-like innocence/cuteness that's pretty unnerving), who may be a literal 'black widow' responsible for the deaths of her three previous husbands. The two become lovers and move in with one another, but we're led to believe (through Christine's bizarre behavior and the frequent appearances of another woman - played by Geert de Jong - who may or may not actually exist) something terrible is boiling under the surface. When another of Christine's lovers, the young and "beautiful" Herman (Thom Hoffman), shows up at the house, things take an unexpected turn. And that's all you need to know.THE 4TH MAN was a huge art-house success in much of the world, but didn't make it over to the US until 1984, where it was awarded the Best Foreign Film of the year from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. The most common video is the Media release, which has been horribly dubbed. Try to avoid that one and head straight for the newer subtitled Anchor Bay DVD release. Since coming to America, Verhoeven's career has had its ups and downs. He has made a few decent films (Flesh & Blood, RoboCop) and some lousy ones (Showgirls). In fact, Verhoeven's big hit Basic Instinct is almost like a less interesting, junior league version of The Fourth Man. Soutendjik also tried her hand at acting in America and since GRAVE SECRETS (1989) and EVE OF DESTRUCTION (1991) were the best offers she was getting, she headed right back home to the Netherlands.
kenjha
Within the first few minutes of this Dutch thriller, we learn that Krabbe is a gay alcoholic writer who sleeps sans underwear, fantasizes about murdering his roommate, tries to steal a magazine from a news stand, and lusts after a studly young man he meets at the train station. And he's the hero of this nonsensical movie that is all dressed up (except for Krabbe in at least one scene too many) but has nowhere to go. The basic plot is very simple but is dragged out to nearly two hours before reaching a pointless conclusion. Verhoeven has a nice visual flair but resorts to scenes of wild hallucinations, overt symbolism, and gratuitous gore when he runs out of ideas.
