Character (1997)
"Karakter" (original title)

Jacob Katadreuffe lives mute with his mother, has no contact with his father who only works against him and wants to become a lawyer, at all costs.

Director:

Mike van Diem

Writers:

Ferdinand Bordewijk (short story "Dreverhaven en Katadreuffe" and novel "Karakter"), Mike van Diem (screenplay),

Stars:

Jan Decleir, Fedja van Huêt, Betty Schuurman

Won 1 Oscar. Another 11 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jan Decleir	...	Dreverhaven
Fedja van Huêt	...	Katadreuffe
Betty Schuurman	...	Joba
Tamar van den Dop	...	Lorna Te George
Victor Löw	...	De Gankelaar
Hans Kesting	...	Jan Maan
Lou Landré	...	Rentenstein
Bernard Droog	...	Stroomkoning
Frans Vorstman	...	Inspecteur de Bree
Fred Goessens	...	Schuwagt
Jasper Gottlieb	...	Jacob 6 jaar
Marius Gottlieb	...	Jacob 6 jaar
Pavlik Jansen op de Haar	...	Jacob 12 jaar
Marisa Van Eyle	...	Jiffrouw Sibculo
Wim Van Der Grijn	...	2e Inspecteur

Storyline

J.W. Katadreuffe is the son of Joba Katadreuffe and A.B. Drevenhaven. Though fully neglected by Joba, Dreverhaven ensures the succesfull career of his son. Mostly unseen, though he sues his son a few times. The son Katadreuffe succeeds, but at great costs.

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Plot Keywords:

lawyer | bailiff | flashback | office | marriage | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Pictures Classics

Country:

Netherlands Belgium

Language:

Dutch English German French

Release Date:

27 March 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Character

Filming Locations:

's-Gravenhage, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands

Box Office

Budget:

$4,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$37,268 (USA) (27 March 1998)

Gross:

$713,413 (USA) (5 June 1998)

Company Credits

Production Co:

First Floor Features, Almerica Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

122 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Last cinema film of Jack Hedley.

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Goofs

In one of the street scenes, you can see an extra in modern outfit and with no headwear on.

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Quotes

Joba: Well, Jacob Willem, then you've been a big ass.

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Connections

References The Third Man (1949)

User Reviews

In this film we are confronted with a perfect script if there ever was one!

In this film we are confronted with a perfect script if there ever was one! Once again, talented screenwriters have proved that a fine novel can be transformed into a great film, without losing any depth in philosophical understanding or psychological subtlety. In 'Character', the paired tension between pride and guilt, as well as between pride and love, or guilt and love, or love and power, gives birth to an astounding and magnificent lesson in human character and behavior. The fact that Mike van Diem and Laurens Geels, two of the film's three writers, were at the same time -respectively- its director and producer, plays no small role in the success of the script, since the novel by Bordewijk was read -and rewritten- from the perspective of cinema, and not the other way around. The psychological themes are treated as variations in a symphony, presented in one of the characters and later developed in another, or presented in one form and then transmuted into another, as the brilliant treatment given to the self-destructive tendencies in the Dreverhaven character, or the extreme laconism in the mother-son relationship. Seen at a tropical country as Ecuador (my own), surrounded by a teenage audience that was led to expect something else; an audience which was only very slowly won by the tense and restrained 'northern', 'iceberg' pace of the film, 'Character' transformed the screen into a gigantic and painful mirror filled with reflections of the sorrows and sufferings of human nature. And finally those teenagers stopped crunching chips and sipping sodas, and started thinking. A '10' by any standard.