The Fourth Man: a review of the sexy thriller from Paul Verhoeven

A review of 'The Fourth Man,' the sexy noir thriller by director Paul Verhoeven!

Dutch director Paul Verhoeven has been among my favorite directors for years. His 1978 film Robocop and his 1990 film Total Recall are among my favorites. When I 1st began watching foreign films, I was surprised to discover that not only was Paul Verhoeven already an established director in his native country, the Netherlands, before coming to the US, but that most of his old Dutch films are--in my opinion--better than his American films. Among his Dutch films, his 1983 suspense thriller The Fourth Man is a standout. The film stars Jeroen Krabbé as a bisexual writer who becomes romantically involved with a photographer and business owner played by Renée Soutendijk who turns out to be the wrong woman. The film served as the basis for Verhoeven's 1992 film Basic Instinct which he made after coming to the US. 

The Fourth Man follows an alcoholic writer named Gerard Reve (Jeroen Krabbé) who sees signs and visions in almost everything. While giving a speech, he meets a beautiful woman named Christine (Renée Soutendijk), they become lovers and he moves in with her. While there, he finds a picture of Christine’s lover and agrees to delay his departure to give her advice on helping her lover overcome his shyness. Gerard persuades her to invite her lover over for dinner and when she does, Gerard can’t believe his luck, that he was finally going to meet the man of his dreams. Everything changes when Gerard stumbles upon Christine’s home movie collection of her and her 3 husbands who all died in freak accidents.

Because of the sex, character arc, and element of deception, The Fourth Man falls into the film noir category. Of the themes expressed in this film, the Biblical story of Samson and Delilah takes center stage in characterizing Gerard and Christine’s relationship. This film contains sexual situations and male frontal nudity which is the normal order of business with foreign films. As he is in Verhoeven's other Dutch films such as 1977s Soldier of Orange and Spetters from 1980, Jeroen Krabbé is excellent as the guy who follows his lusts and gets in over his head. Renée Soutendijk is also great in this film playing her part as Delilah-- both figuratively and literally--and it is no coincidence that she owns a hair-cutting business. 

Paul Verhoeven did a great job on this film. He's 1 of the few directors versatile enough to go from making a period drama like 2006s Black Book to 1997s Starship Troopers. What I like about all of his films is his ability to inject humor without making light of the subject matter. For example, his 1973 film, Turkish Delight, deals with cancer but there is a random gesture that adds nothing to the storyline in which the director opens a scene with a poodle doing his business on the sidewalk. If you like foreign films like Run Lola Run and you are curious to see the Dutch version of Basic Instinct, you should check out The Fourth Man. I don’t know if it’s out on blu ray but I have it on DVD and the picture and sound quality are terrific.