''Crazy Love'' is a 1987 film directed by
Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...
director
Dominique Deruddere
Dominique Deruddere (born 15 June 1957) is a Belgium, Belgian film director, actor, screenwriter and producer.
Career
Dominique Deruddere was an actor before he became a director.
Filmography
* ''Crazy Love (1987 film), Crazy Love'' (1987)
* ...
. The film is based on various writings by author and poet
Charles Bukowski
Henry Charles Bukowski ( ; born Heinrich Karl Bukowski, ; August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994) was a German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambience of his adopted ...
, in particular ''The Copulating Mermaid of Venice, California'', which contains
necrophilia.
It was the first Flemish-Belgian film to receive a theatrical release in North America.
Plot
The film follows Harry Voss during three important days of his life. The first is as a youth, the second on the day of his high school graduation and the third as a lonely, middle-aged man.
The phases of his life show the destruction of hope and innocence and his descent into cynicism, alcoholism and hopelessness. Idealizing romantic love with a beautiful girl in his childhood, he is bitterly disappointed when the real world does not match the idealized images of love in his own imaginings. He then discovers as a teenager his peers consider him an outcast due to his chronic and physically disfiguring
cystic acne
Acne, also known as ''acne vulgaris'', is a long-term skin condition that occurs when dead skin cells and oil from the skin clog hair follicles. Typical features of the condition include blackheads or whiteheads, pimples, oily skin, and po ...
, which covers his face, chest, shoulders and back in weeping pus-filled sores and repulses all who see him. He turns to alcohol to kill the pain and disappointment, losing all hope of finding true love, only to end up destitute, as an alcoholic in later adulthood. Only through a freak chance encounter late in his life is he transported back to his innocent memories of childhood and the idealized love of a beautiful girl that he craved in his youth. Finally fulfilled, he dies by wading out into the open ocean after finding his only "true" love - a "crazy love". The irony of the "hollowness" of this lost, idealized, love, and the tragic significance Harry places on this single event, sums up his lost life and finally makes him the hero of his own story.
Each of the three phases filmed involves a sexual encounter with a "passive" female. In the first phase, the child is pushed into a sexual encounter with a friend's attractive mother whilst she is sleeping, drunk, in her bed at home. In the second, a girl lies passively in the back seat of a car, uninterested, whilst he attempts to have sex with her. She does it only as a favor to her boyfriend who is friends with Harry, but cannot carry through in the end and turns away in disgust at his appalling cystic acne. In the third, as an older alcoholic, he and his drunk friend stumble upon a fresh corpse and "steal" it as a joke, only for Harry to find that the dead - but still warm - girl resembles the girl of his childhood dreams.
The next morning his friend finds Harry has committed suicide by intentionally walking out to sea with the corpse in his arms, apparently committing suicide after consummating his final desire.
Cast
*
Josse De Pauw
Josse De Pauw (born 15 March 1952) is a versatile Belgian actor, film director, dramatist, author and columnist. He was married to modern dance performer Fumio Ikeda for over thirty years.
Theatre
After graduating from the Royal Conservatory i ...
* Michael Pas
* Amid Chakir
* Geert Hunaerts
*
Gene Bervoets
Eugène Joanna Alfons "Gene" Bervoets (born 26 March 1956 in Antwerp) is a Belgian actor. He has performed in more than 60 films since 1979.
Selected filmography
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bervoets, Gene
1956 births
L ...
* Florence Beliard
Controversy
When it was first released, first time director Dominique Deruddere's film divided critics and audiences. Some reviewers noted the quality of the photography and set design and acting. Others focused on the unacceptable nature of the film's subject.
On its American release, the film was championed by
Madonna,
Sean Penn
Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He has won two Academy Awards, for his roles in the mystery drama ''Mystic River'' (2003) and the biopic ''Milk'' (2008).
Penn began his acting career in televisi ...
and
Francis Ford Coppola. Ultimately it proved too controversial for mass acceptance, and never received wide recognition.
It is now considered by some to be one of the classic films of
world cinema
World cinema is a term in film theory that refers to films made outside of the American motion picture industry, particularly those in opposition to the aesthetics and values of commercial American cinema.Nagib, Lúcia. "Towards a positive de ...
from the 1980s.
External links
*
''Crazy Love'' at Rotten Tomatoes
{{Charles Bukowski
1987 films
Films based on works by Charles Bukowski
Belgian drama films
Belgian coming-of-age films
1980s Dutch-language films
Necrophilia in film
Films set in Belgium
Films shot in Belgium
1980s Italian-language films
1987 drama films
Films directed by Dominique Deruddere
1987 directorial debut films