Character (1998)

Character, the 1997 Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film, is an Oedipal struggle both primal and epic with a Dickensian sweep and a dark Kafka-esque center. The film starts with a heated argument between two men, and when the elder is found dead with a knife in his chest the younger man is arrested and revealed to be his son. The story begins in flashback: the father, Dreverhaven (Jan Decleir from Antonia's Line), is a fearless Scrooge-like moneylender who has cold-heartedly built his fortune by collecting debts and foreclosing on the poor. His son, Katadreuffe (Fedja van Huet), is the offspring of a single night's passion with his housekeeper--in an interesting twist he hounds her to marry him, and she leaves with the boy to raise him on her own. When she dies, father and son become locked in a fascinating battle: as Katadreuffe finds him calling in the law, Dreverhaven buys up his debts and attempts to drive him into bankruptcy. Katadreuffe eagerly takes up every challenge his father throws at him in a perverse show of strength and filial defiance. Adapted by first-time director Mike Van Diem from the 1938 novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk, this handsome epic is assured from the first frame, and excellent performances by Decleir (whose imposing Dreverhaven seems to tower over all by will as much as by size) and van Huet bring to life this study of two tortured psyches whose love emerges only through conflict and competition. --Sean Axmaker Amazon.com

The Pyschological Family Feud - tense and thrilling...

Dutch film with English subtitles. Winner of the 1998 Academy Award for best for foreign film. Set in the Netherlands in the depression era of the 1920's. The movie opens and ends with scenes of the death of Dreverhaven, a notorious, cold and heartless bailiff who evicts the poor from their dwellings after they fall past due on rent or their debts.

Jacob Katadreuffe is taken in by the police and charged with Dreverhaven's brutal death. The police learn that Dreverhaven is Jacob's father and Jacob reflects back on his birth; his Mother's repeated rejections of Dreverhaven's offer to marry and rejection of his money despite her poverty; Jacob's Mother struggle to accept her [...] son; Dreverhaven subsequent refusal to accept Jacob as a son to punish his Mother for not marrying him and Dreverhaven's efforts to thwart his son's attempts to start a business and later to become a lawyer. Jacob eventually overcomes his Mother's coolness and distance and his Father's determination to break him.

"Character" is well titled. You feel the darkness the evil and hatred in Dreverhaven. You feel the anguish of Jacob as he struggles growing up as an illegitimate child as school mates tease him. You feel the torment that Jacob's Mother experiences in loving her son and expressing this love. And how difficult it is for Jacob to grow up without the love of his Mother and Father. This movie keeps you on your toes from beginning to end. Great cinematography, great casting, Great film.
June 21, 2008

No one gives an inch in psychological twister "Character"

I visit CHARACTER,1997 Foreign film of the Year,ever so often and never tire of it.This Netherlands-made Mike Van Diem written and directed thriller based out of a 1938 novel entitled "Katadreuffe und Dreverhoeven en Karakter" ages like a fine wine and gets deeper and more character complex every time I view it.
CHARACTER was released the same year as fellow epics TITANIC AND AMISTAD;and in the Foreign category,CHARACTER brought home another Oscar just as two years prior another Netherlands film,the amazing ANTONIA'S LINE,had been victorious.The fact that CHARACTER beat out BEYOND THE SILENCE from Germany and FOUR DAYS IN SEPTEMBER from Brazil put this masterpiece in really fine company that year.
As INSUFFICIENTLY stated IMO by Amazon's reviewer, CHARACTER is really a three way struggle between Father,Son and Mother in a battle of stubborn pride, obsession and control.All three main characters are all caught in this cat-and-mouse,dog-eat-dog psychological thriller set in 1923 Rotterdam.This screenplay/book is right out of the Charles Dickens mode full of bleak beginnings and endings,class struggles,acceptance,greed,lust,pride and vengeance that is particularly reminiscent of Dickens' NICHOLAS NICKLEBY IMO.Will good come out of all of this suffering???
Dreverhoeven is the court bailiff who is as "Scroogesque" as one can be.He forecloses on everyone without blinking an eye.He has a housekeeper who never speaks to him,neither him to her;yet he "fornicates" (why we are never certain why either of them do this)with her one evening.Six weeks later,with child,Miss Katadreuffe resigns as housekeeper.She wants nothing from Dreverhoeven.He proposes marriage 13 times and she quietly refuses proudly and stubbornly each time.A son is born named Jacob Willem.He catches glimpses of this "father" here and there,but has only one constant thought of him planted in his brain by his hardened mother:"We have need of nothing from him." As Jacob grows,the deafening silence that exists with his mother and now the involvement here and there with his father as a money lender increases Jacob's fierce and independent spirit to live free of both of them.This he continually finds impossible to do.The mother is austere and silent;the father is cruel and calculating;the son has terrible problems with both of them,yet is generally favored well by all of his coworkers.Things many times throughout this film come to a boil and the viewer is asked to consider the character motivation of each of the three principles, all the while realizing that the stress and strain is building Jacob into a strong and confidaent man.These are REAL and ALIVE and TREMENDOUSLY INTERESTING characters for those who love this kind of a film.It is nail-biting and tense,and yet has an underlying sweetness AND sadness about it.The film is first rate in all departments from it's look, to it's editing to a wonderful soundtrack by Het Paleis Van Boem.
14 time nominee,4 time winner Jan Declair (ANTONIA"S LINE ,DAENS etc.) is the bailiff/tyrant Deverhoeven; Freja Van Huet portrays Jacob Willem and Betty Schuurman is Miss Katadreuffe.All three are multiple European actor winners.This is a first rate acting job in a first rate film.The fact that Award winning director has done nothing since CHARACTER is a mystery to me.Imdb stops his resume with his triumph here.



1997 was a great year for films.Watch CHARACTER and you will surely agree.EXTREMELY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. October 6, 2007

Excellently executed acting and directing

This film contains all of the best features that a moviegoer relishes in a superior dramatic film. The story grabs you suddenly at the beginning and takes you through the frustrations of a hard-working young man. I don't want to give any of the plot away, so I can't say too much about the storyline. When I originally watched this film, it seemed like it was paced too slowly, but near the end I began to see that the pacing had purpose--and ended satisfactorily. Must see. August 1, 2007

Worth while

For some reason the review I submitted right after seeing this DVD didn't make it onto the website so I'm writing another. Since it's not fresh in my mind I'll just add my "vote" to the others who recommend this.

To me, some stories are worth telling and some aren't. This is one that is! And it's brilliantly filmed and acted. Others' have recounted the story so I won't repeat it. But it's a tale of substance, worth your time and attention. April 5, 2007

Generally well made movie, with dubious final message

A generally well made movie with a very dubious message: the best way to raise your children is to treat them like garbage. This movie is based on a 1920s book, and that message might seem resonant with the values of that era. But it's strange to listen to this kind of litany in a contemporary movie. To summarize the plot a bit, the film is about a young man, son of an unwed and stern woman, whose career is made almost impossible by his natural father, a thoroughly repellent individual, whose job seems to be to evict the poor from their homes when they can't pay their debts. The father tries every tactic to harass his son and to bring him into ruin and bankruptcy. What is most shocking is that the movie seems to imply that the father really loves his son, and all the wretched things he does to him are in order to build his character (hence the title) and become a successful person in society. Summing up, a well made movie with a message that seems a relic from a previous era. December 15, 2006

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