Katie Tippel (1975)

The young girl Keetje moves to Amsterdam in 1881 with her impoverished family, and is led into prostitution in order to survive. In the process she sees the corrupting influence of money.

Director:

Paul Verhoeven

Writers:

Gerard Soeteman (screenplay), Neel Doff (novel)

Stars:

Monique van de Ven, Rutger Hauer, Andrea Domburg

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Monique van de Ven	...	Keetje Tippel
Rutger Hauer	...	Hugo
Andrea Domburg	...	Keetje's moeder
Hannah de Leeuwe	...	Mina, Keetje's zus
Jan Blaaser	...	Keetje's vader
Eddie Brugman	...	André (as Eddy Brugman)
Peter Faber	...	George
Mart Gevers
Riet Henius
Walter Kous	...	Pierre
Paul Meyer	...	Hoofd wasfabriek
Tonny Popper
Jan Retèl	...	Dokter
Fons Rademakers	...	Klant
Riek Schagen	...	Geest

Storyline

The young girl Keetje moves to Amsterdam in 1881 with her impoverished family, and is led into prostitution in order to survive. In the process she sees the corrupting influence of money.

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Plot Keywords:

prostitution | rape | poverty | character name as title | stethoscope exam | 

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Taglines:

The passion of BERGMAN...The boldness of FELLINI...The epic sweep of BERTOLUCCI

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

Filming was done in The Hague, Utrecht, Amsterdam, Leiden, and Brussels to provide an appropriate nineteenth century setting. Even so, many times, a baker's car or basket weavers had to be placed to strategically hide twentieth century antennas, parking meters, and supermarkets from view.

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Alternate Versions

A few more explicit shots of the rape scene were cut to avoid an "X" rating in the U.S. They are restored on home video in an unrated version.

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Connections

Referenced in Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner (2007)

User Reviews

The classic Verhoeven touch in a relatively early film.

From this movie, it is easy to see how the director made it out of Holland and landed in mainstream Hollywood. He takes a very serious subject, extreme poverty and how it leads to social uprising, and adds his personal light touches that almost make you forget the political subtext. The "finger shadow" scene before the rape was a touch of cinematic genius that I almost missed the first time around.

The ultimate lesson seems to me to be, of course, that we are all whores, it just depends on how much we can afford to spend on clothes.

One question, if she was so poor, how did she keep her roots died blonde?

Details

Country:

Netherlands

Language:

Dutch

Release Date:

6 March 1975 (Netherlands)

Also Known As:

Katie Tippel

Filming Locations:

Netherlands

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rob Houwer Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1