''Cloaca'' is a 2003 Dutch film, directed by

Willem van de Sande Bakhuyzen Willem van de Sande Bakhuyzen (Arnhem, 13 November 1957 – Amsterdam, 27 September 2005) was a Dutch film director. He made his acting debut in the 1986 Academy Award-winning movie '' The Assault''. His directing debut came in 1990, with th ...

. It is a film adaptation of the 2002 theatre play ''Cloaca'' written by

Maria Goos ''Cloaca'' is a 2003 Dutch film, directed by Willem van de Sande Bakhuyzen. It is a film adaptation of the 2002 theatre play ''Cloaca'' written by Maria Goos, who wrote the scenario for the film as well. The leading roles celebrate men in their ...

, who wrote the scenario for the film as well. The leading roles celebrate men in their 40s who were formerly student friends but since then have let their relationship go stale. They are played by: Goos's husband

Peter Blok Peter Stephanus Blok (born 7 April 1960 in The Hague), known as Peter Blok, is a Dutch stage, television, film, and voice actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" ...

(Tom),

Pierre Bokma Pierre Henri Martin Bokma (born 20 December 1955 in Paris) is a Dutch stage, television and film actor. Bokma received his professional training at the Maastricht Academy of Dramatic Arts. In November 2007 he won an International Emmy Award fo ...

(Pieter),

Gijs Scholten van Aschat Gijs Scholten van Aschat (born 16 September 1959) is a Dutch actor. He has appeared in more than sixty films since 1980. He is the father of Reinout Scholten van Aschat Reinout Scholten van Aschat (born 9 November 1989) is a Dutch actor. ...

(Joep), and

Jaap Spijkers Jaap may refer to: * Jaap Sahib, Sikh prayer * Jaap (given name) Jaap is a Dutch given name that is short for Jacob or Jacobus (Jacob or James in English). People with this name include: Academics * Jaap R. Bruijn (born 1938), Dutch maritime h ...

(Maarten). Female roles were played by Caro Lenssen (Laura), Elsie de Brauw (Conny), and

Marleen Stolz Marleen is a Dutch-language feminine given name. It can be a contraction of Maria and either Magdalena or Helena.Marlee ...

(Russian prostitute). Eric Schneider acted in a supporting role as Brest, Pieter's boss's boss. Blok, Bokma, Goos, Scholten van Aschat, and Van de Sande Bakhuyzen know each other from the

Toneelacademie Maastricht The Toneelacademie Maastricht, institute of performative arts is a college of dramatic arts located in the city of Maastricht in the Netherlands. It is part of the Zuyd University (Zuyd Hogeschool). The school is housed in a former Protestant orph ...

. The film was conceived as a

made-for-TV film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

(it was co-financed by the

AVRO AVRO, short for Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep ("General Association of Radio Broadcasting"), was a Dutch public broadcasting association operating within the framework of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep system. It was the first public broad ...

) but later got a cinema release. It won the public prize for Dutch film at a festival in 2003, and was released on DVD in 2005.

Plot

The career of homosexual art historian Pieter, who has been working as an

archivist An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to Document, records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist c ...

at a municipality, has been going nowhere for 20 years: he is ignored by his colleagues, and for many years now, as a sort of revenge, he has been taking a painting from the depot in the cellar on his birthday. Brest, his boss's boss, takes Vermeulen out for a meal. Pieter expects good news, but instead hears he must return the paintings: in any case the eight paintings by Van Goppel (who died recently) which all of a sudden have become worth a lot of money. This produces a major problem, because Pieter has sold four of the Van Goppels in order to pay for his apartment. If anyone can help him, it would be his old student friends Joep and Tom. Joep, a politician who is slated to become the next Minister for Foreign Affairs, has been turned out of his house by his wife Conny because he proved to have an extramarital affair with Jennie. He thought he would be able to stay at Tom's, but Tom went insane a couple of months earlier as a result of

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...

abuse. As a lawyer, Tom wants to take the case of Pieter himself. Joep cannot help with Pieter's problem now, because he's on the verge of being appointed. The rancid Maarten comes also; his pretentious stage play "The Wheel of Ixion" is about to have its opening night, in which Joep's almost 18-year-old daughter is to play Laura, a role where she stands naked on the stage. Joep is with him there and does not know that Maarten had sex with Laura. The friends celebrate Joep's birthday by hiring a prostitute for him, but that leads to tears from Joep and a brawl with Maarten who also wanted to use her services. The friends go to the première of Maarten's play. Joep's mistrust about his daughter acting in the play disappears. He gets a chance afterwards of a reconciliation with his wife, but bungles it totally. Tom goes crazy and goes into the city to obtain

. Meanwhile, Pieter tries to convince his colleagues to attest that the Van Goppels had been given to him. When the friends return to Pieter, they look back on their past. Just when everything seems about to end well for Pieter, Joep withdraws from the matter because he has become Minister for Culture. Tom breaks down now entirely and runs away. Maarten, who still has not confessed to Joep what he did with his daughter, continues to wait until Pieter comes home and gives him the bad news. Pieter cuts one of his arteries open in the bathroom.

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0375662, Cloaca 2003 films 2003 comedy-drama films 2000s Dutch-language films Dutch comedy-drama films