Morbid Catholic writer Gerard Reve–bisexual, alcoholic, and experiencing frequent visions of death–is invited to give a lecture at the Vlissingen literature club. While in the Amsterdam railway station, he's attracted to a handsome man who embarks on another train. Gerard meets club treasurer and beautician Christine Halsslag, and engage in a one-night-stand. The next morning, Gerard sees a picture of Christine's boyfriend Herman and recognises him as the man at the train station. He urges her to bring Herman to her house to spend a couple of days together, but with ulterior intentions of seduction. During a night on his own, Gerard finds and watches film reels, discovering that Christine had married each; all of whom died in tragic accidents. Believing Christine is a Black Widow, Gerard begins to question whether Herman or he will be her doomed fourth man.
The 4th Man is showing in 1 cinema in Los Angeles — next screening Saturday 8 August at 19:30 at Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
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So wild to see an erotic thriller that actually flips the usual gender dynamics by openly placing a hetero woman between a bisexual man and the piece of trade that is the object of his lust. Maybe it's just me, but more movies should have men trying to make it with crucified twink Jesus?I'd never seen any of Verhoeven's pre-Hollywood films before this, so I should probably get on that...
The Fourth Man is a horrifying bisexual lucid dream: erotic, twisty, trippy, and probably Paul Verhoeven's most underrated work.The Fourth Man details a sexually oppressed writer's paranoid sex expedition with both a beautiful woman in red, and her equally alluring, bisexual boyfriend. It's full on European with its extreme sexuality, offering both male and female frontal nudities and firey sex scenes. Verhoeven masterfully incorporated religious elements into the sex tale, as an effort to shush his critics saying his previous works lacked artistic depths, and it paid off greatly, creating an offbeat and somewhat blasphemous vibe that equally parts sucks the audience in and pushes the religious one away. Verhoeven also made the perfect decision to keep the mystery ambiguous, leaving much room for interpretations. What brings this movie to the next level for me is the marvelous acting, especially from leading man Jeroen Krabbé, whose massive charisma on screen and daring nudity add so much likeability to this already mesmerizing project.Overall The Fourth Man is a consistently suspenseful and raunchily queer effort from the great Paul Verhoeven that deserves to be watched and enjoyed by a much wider audience. Highly recommended.
Doesn't work as a sequel to The Third Man, but this is one hot Dutch -Hoeven. Paulie V excels at over-boiling everything, bringing all of the elements Hitchcock would have had to bury in implication and subtext floating to the surface. He's mixing it in the red with a heavy hand allowing him to layer in subtleties underneath the pop sheen that could easily go unnoticed by someone just looking to watch a pervy thriller. It would seem cacophonous if it wasn't all so slickly deployed (that Jan de Bont photography!). It's unsurprising that he was whisked away to Hollywood shortly after this and equally unsurprising that he was continually misunderstood (Showgirls) and eventually and unceremoniously excused from further mainstream ventures. It's a shame, the world needs more erotic thrillers that are about Catholic guilt and Christ parables that take the form of cyborg policeman action romps.
A morbid writer finds himself caught in a web of paranoia and obsession when he begins to suspect that his new lover, a woman with a dark past, is a serial killer.
Paul Verhoeven directed this 1983 psychological thriller, which serves as a major precursor to his later international work.
This film contains mature themes, including explicit sexuality and intense psychological violence, intended for adult audiences.
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