Fourth man

The writer Gerard Reve (Crabbe) is a character torn by contradictions: a bisexual person who suffers severely from alcoholism and obsessions , but considers himself a convinced Catholic . Having departed once at the invitation of a literary club in Vlissingen , at the station of Amsterdam, he feels an irresistible attraction to a man accidentally met on the platform. At the club, the writer is introduced to Christine Halsslag (Southindijk), a rich, young, but already three times widowed lady who works in her own hairdresser. Easy converging, that night they enter into an intimate relationship. In the morning, Roar accidentally notices a photograph of a close friend of Christina Herman (Hoffman) and recognizes a passenger from him from the Amsterdam station. Despite the warning visions, carried away by passion, he seeks acquaintance with Herman. Reve finds amateur films from the time of her three marriages in the Halsslag house. Viewing them makes him doubt that the death of each of the former husbands was accidental. During a romantic weekend visiting Christina in Gerard’s sick imagination, the question arises: will he or Herman become the fourth man Madame Halsslag - the fourth victim of the alleged "black widow" ?

• Jeroen Krabbe - Gerard Reve
• Renee Southendake - Christina Halsslag
• Tom Hoffman - Herman
• Dolph de Vries - Dr. de Vries
• Guirt de Jon - Ria

• 1983 - Toronto Film Festival , Critics Award for Best Director;
• 1984 - Los Angeles Film Critics Association, Best Foreign Film Award;
• 1984 - Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival , special jury prize for directing. ^[one]

• "BUT. B. Club ”of The Onion agency:“ The Fourth Man ”begins as an excellent Hitchcock thriller to unexpectedly flow into a surreal comedy typical of both Bunuel and Hitchcock. By the presence of a mysterious blonde seducer, a bisexual writer, an aura of the highest depravity, the film largely anticipates the “ Basic Instinct ” ” ^[2] .
• James Newman, film reviewer at ImagesJournal.com: “Verhoeven makes a film using a flood of Gothic imagery. The name on the tape (funeral wreath) at the coffin is added to his name Gerard. A woman peels an apple and the peel falls on her son’s head like a halo (turning her into the Virgin Mary , and her son into the baby Jesus ). <...> But these images are banal nonsense in comparison with the main vision of Gerard: he represents a full-sized crucifix with a beautiful friend of Christine instead of Christ. <...> The inscription above the entrance to the beauty salon says “Sphinx”, but two neon letters flicker, go out, as a result of which the word “Spin” is read, which in French is “spider” ” ^[3] .

• In accordance with the inscriptions on the urns in the family crypt, Madame Halsslag lost her previous husbands under the following circumstances: Ge Verdoni (1950-1972) - torn to pieces by a lion; Johan Verdeise (1948-1975) - died due to an unopened parachute; Henk Landers (1946-1978) - crashed on a speed boat. ^[four]

• The Fourth Man on the Internet Movie Database  
• The Fourth Man on the Allrovi website  
• The Fourth Man at Rotten Tomatoes