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Turks fruit (1973)

Rate: 10
Viewed: 5/25

TurksF
5/25: Yep, this is Rutger Hauer's best film of all time, and unbelievably, it's the first of his career.

Known as Turkish Delight in the Netherlands, Turks fruit is brilliantly made that's À bout de souffle, 9½ Weeks, and Love Story all rolled into one. I've never seen two thespians be so spontaneous like Rutger Hauer and Monique van de Ven. Their characters live their lives to the fullest in the most brazen manner.

The first fifteen minutes makes sense because Eric was trying to replace the same passion he felt with Olga but to no avail, so he had given up on life and resorted to destruction. Either way, he was a dangerous madman to begin with and found his match in Olga, but she was actually exhausted by his joie de vivre taken to the extreme. Who knows if it was the brain tumor that clouded her thinking from the get-go?

I thought about giving the film a '9' because of the overdone nudity but decided not to. There's not a single flaw in the film. I'm rather impressed with the editing work and the occasional outstanding shots by Jan de Bont who ended up directing films like Speed and Twister and ironically married Monique van de Ven. By the way, she had her head completely shaven for the role and was wearing a wig.

All in all, the Netherlands Film Festival got it right when Turks fruit was voted as the greatest Dutch picture of the 20th century.