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''Character'' ( nl, Karakter) is a 1997 Dutch-Belgian film, based on the best-selling novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk and directed by Mike van Diem. The film won the
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...
at the 70th Academy Awards. The film stars
Fedja van Huêt Fedja van Huêt (born 21 June 1973, in The Hague) is a Dutch stage and film actor. Van Huêt received his professional training at the Maastricht Academy of Dramatic Arts. He was in the ensemble of the theater companies RO Theater and Theaterco ...
,
Jan Decleir Jan Decleir (born as ''Jan Amanda Gustaaf Decleir'' on 14 February 1946) is a prolific Belgian movie and stage actor born in Niel, Antwerp. Career He had his first big role in Fons Rademakers's ''Mira'' (1971). Since then, he has appeared in ...
, and
Betty Schuurman Betty Schuurman (born 1962) is Dutch actress. She appeared in more than forty films since 1992 including '' Character'' which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 70th Academy Awards The 70th Academy Awards ceremony, org ...
.


Plot

In the Netherlands of the 1920s, Dreverhaven (Decleir), a dreaded bailiff, is found dead, with a knife sticking out of his stomach. The obvious suspect is Jacob Willem Katadreuffe (Van Huêt), an ambitious young lawyer who worked his way up from poverty, always managing to overcome Dreverhaven's personal attacks against him. Katadreuffe was seen leaving Dreverhaven's office on the afternoon of the murder. He is arrested and taken to police headquarters, where he reflects back on the story of his long relationship with Dreverhaven, who, police learn, is also Katadreuffe's father. The story begins when Katadreuffe's taciturn mother, Joba (played by Schuurman), worked as a housekeeper for Dreverhaven. During that time, they had sex only once (it is implied that the encounter was forced upon Joba). She becomes pregnant and leaves her employer to make a living for herself and her son. Time and again, she rejects Dreverhaven's offers by mail of money and marriage. Even as a child, Katadreuffe finds that his path crosses with Dreverhaven, often with dire consequences. When he is arrested for becoming involved in a boyish theft and tells the police that Dreverhaven is his father, Dreverhaven refuses to recognize him as his son. When, as a young man, he unwittingly takes a loan from a bank that Dreverhaven owns to purchase a failed
cigar A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco leaves made to be smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct components: the filler, the binder l ...
store, Dreverhaven sues him to win the money back and force him into bankruptcy. Still, Katadreuffe manages to pay back the debt, finding a clerical position in the law firm retained to pursue him for his cigar-store debt. He manages to secure this job, even though most of his education is derived from reading an incomplete English-language
encyclopedia An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...
that he finds as a boy in his mother's apartment; studying this set, he manages to teach himself English, which turns out to be a valuable talent in the eyes of his employers. After paying back the cigar-store debt, Katadreuffe immediately seeks a second loan from Dreverhaven, so that he can finance his education and legal studies and, ultimately, take and pass the bar examination. Dreverhaven agrees, on the condition that he can call back the loan at any time. Despite the bailiff's efforts to hinder his son, Katadreuffe passes his bar examination and qualifies as a lawyer. On the afternoon when his firm holds a celebration of his becoming a lawyer (the day with which the film begins, the day of the murder), Katadreuffe storms into Dreverhaven's office to confront his lifelong tormentor, the bailiff. Katadreuffe reacts with rage to Dreverhaven's congratulations, and his offer of a handshake, and, though he at first turns to leave, he runs toward Dreverhaven and attempts to attack him. After a bloody and angry brawl, Katadreuffe is witnessed leaving the bailiff's office. However, the police discover that Katadreuffe left Dreverhaven at 5:00 p.m., though an examination of the bailiff's body reveals that Dreverhaven died at 11:00 p.m. The police finally reveal to Katadreuffe that Dreverhaven actually committed suicide. After Katadreuffe is cleared, a police official hands him a document, left by Dreverhaven's lawyer, that turns out to be the bailiff's will, which leaves all of his considerable wealth to Katadreuffe. The will is signed "Vader" (Father).


Cast

*
Jan Decleir Jan Decleir (born as ''Jan Amanda Gustaaf Decleir'' on 14 February 1946) is a prolific Belgian movie and stage actor born in Niel, Antwerp. Career He had his first big role in Fons Rademakers's ''Mira'' (1971). Since then, he has appeared in ...
- Dreverhaven *
Fedja van Huêt Fedja van Huêt (born 21 June 1973, in The Hague) is a Dutch stage and film actor. Van Huêt received his professional training at the Maastricht Academy of Dramatic Arts. He was in the ensemble of the theater companies RO Theater and Theaterco ...
- Katadreuffe *
Betty Schuurman Betty Schuurman (born 1962) is Dutch actress. She appeared in more than forty films since 1992 including '' Character'' which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 70th Academy Awards The 70th Academy Awards ceremony, org ...
- Joba * amar van den Dop https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamar_van_den_Dop - Lorna Te George *
Victor Löw Victor Löw (born 25 August 1962 in Amsterdam; originally ''Victor Löwenstein''), is a Dutch actor. Victor Löw studied at Studio Herman Teirlinck in Antwerp. He played his first small part in The Northerners. After that he played in numerous ...
- De Gankelaar *
Hans Kesting Hans Kesting (born 6 October 1960) is a Dutch actor. He appeared in more than fifty films since 1987. He was diagnosed with HIV in 1996. In 2016 he was awarded the Louis d'Or.https://tga.nl/media/acteurs/persknipsels_acteurs_ivo/050625_volkskrant_ ...
- Jan Maan * Lou Landré - Rentenstein *
Bernhard Droog Bernhard Droog (5 January 1921 in Cologne, Germany – 22 December 2009 in Ede, Netherlands) was a Dutch actor who appeared in 17 films, including the 1997 Academy Award-winning ''Character'', and numerous television and theatre roles. Droo ...
- Stroomkoning * Frans Vorstman - Inspecteur de Bree * Fred Goessens - Schuwagt


Production

Most scenes of the film were shot in
Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, r ...
,
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
.


See also

* List of submissions to the 70th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film * List of Dutch submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film


References


External links

* * *broke
review (albany.edu)
*broken`(13/10/2010
review (iofilm.co.uk)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Character (1997 Film) 1997 films 1990s historical drama films Dutch drama films Dutch historical drama films Belgian historical drama films 1990s Dutch-language films 1990s German-language films 1990s French-language films Films based on Dutch novels Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award winners Films shot in the Netherlands Films shot in Antwerp Films shot in Brussels Films shot in Ghent Films set in the 1910s Films set in the 1920s Films set in the Netherlands Films set in Hamburg 1997 drama films Films directed by Mike van Diem Dutch-language Belgian films