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Character

Original title: Karakter
  • 1997
  • R
  • 2h 2m
IMDb RATING
7.7/10
11K
YOUR RATING
Tamar van den Dop and Fedja van Huêt in Character (1997)
CrimeDramaMystery

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.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.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
    • Laurens Geels
    • Mike van Diem
  • Stars
    • Pavlik Jansen op de Haar
    • Jan Decleir
    • Fedja van Huêt
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    7.7/10
    11K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Mike van Diem
    • Writers
      • Ferdinand Bordewijk
      • Laurens Geels
      • Mike van Diem
    • Stars
      • Pavlik Jansen op de Haar
      • Jan Decleir
      • Fedja van Huêt
    • 73User reviews
    • 31Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Won 1 Oscar
      • 18 wins & 8 nominations total

    Videos1

    Character
    Trailer 2:03
    Watch Character

    Photos8

    Character (1997)
    Character (1997)
    Character (1997)
    Character (1997)
    Character (1997)
    Jan Decleir and Fedja van Huêt in Character (1997)
    Character (1997)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Pavlik Jansen op de Haar
    • Jacob 12 jaar
    Jan Decleir
    Jan Decleir
    • Dreverhaven
    Fedja van Huêt
    Fedja van Huêt
    • Katadreuffe
    Betty Schuurman
    • Joba
    Tamar van den Dop
    • Lorna Te George
    Victor Löw
    Victor Löw
    • De Gankelaar
    Hans Kesting
    • Jan Maan
    Lou Landré
    Lou Landré
    • Rentenstein
    Bernard Droog
    • Stroomkoning
    Frans Vorstman
    • Inspecteur de Bree
    Fred Goessens
    • Schuwagt
    Jasper Gottlieb
    • Jacob 6 jaar
    Marius Gottlieb
    • Jacob 6 jaar
    Marisa Van Eyle
    • Jiffrouw Sibculo
    Wim Van Der Grijn
    • 2e Inspecteur
    Jos Verbist
    • Brigadier
    Jaap Spijkers
    • Overbuurman
    Mark Rietman
    • Van Rijn
    • Director
      • Mike van Diem
    • Writers
      • Ferdinand Bordewijk
      • Laurens Geels
      • Mike van Diem
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Although the story takes place in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, many scenes were filmed in other cities across The Netherlands and Europe. This was because Rotterdam has very few buildings from this era left following heavy bombing during the Second World War. Filming locations included: Hamburg (Germany), Wroclaw (Poland), Antwerp and Ghent (Belgium) and The Hague (The Netherlands).
    • Goofs
      In one of the street scenes, you can see an extra in modern outfit and with no headwear on.
    • Quotes

      Joba: Why don't you leave our boy in peace?

      Dreverhaven: I'll strangle him for nine-tenths, and the last tenth will make him strong.

    • Connections
      Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Lost in Space/The Spanish Prisoner/Mercury Rising/Kurt & Courtney/Character (1998)

    User reviews73

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    10/10
    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.
    helpful•38
    8
    • pedrito
    • May 22, 1999

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • March 27, 1998 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • Netherlands
      • Belgium
    • Official site
      • Sony Pictures Classics
    • Languages
      • Dutch
      • English
      • German
      • French
    • Also known as
      • Характер
    • Filming locations
      • Wroclaw, Dolnoslaskie, Poland
    • Production companies
      • First Floor Features
      • Almerica Film
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Budget
      • $4,500,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $623,983
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $37,268
      • Mar 29, 1998
    • Gross worldwide
      • $623,983
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours 2 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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