Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Religious Music and Entertainment
Verhoeven’s Turkish Delight: A Real Treat

Verhoeven’s Turkish Delight: A Real Treat

Last updated on: December 10, 2024 at 8:35 pm by Chase Padusniak

0 Comments

Verhoeven’s Turkish Delight: A Real Treat 2024-12-10T20:35:18-04:00 Chase Padusniak

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Paul Verhoeven with Monique van de Ven at the premiere of Turkish Delight.
Source: Wikimedia
Public Domain

Our Horace? Paul Verhoeven, or so stands his reputation. His Hollywood run from Robocop (1987) to Starship Troopers (1997) has made him the darling of a couple generations of American Letterboxd enthusiasts. And rightly so! Few have dissected the American body politic with such precision. And certainly none has ever done so sporting such a wry smirk.

Over the years, I’ve taken in a number of Verhoeven’s films, and I’ve loved every last one. It was only last week, however, that I had the pleasure of encountering Turkish Delight (1973), one of his early Dutch-language comedies. It delighted me more than I ever could have expected and deconstructs the tried (though not tired) romantic-comedic formula as it does so.

Turkish Delight follows Eric Vonk (Rutger Hauer) as a sculptor and local Amsterdam lothario who seems equal parts committed to bedding women and hating them. We watch as he has violent dreams about murdering a couple, only for him to wake up and immediately begin pleasuring himself as he murmurs about scatological sex acts. We are indeed in Verhoeven territory.

The film rewinds two years to a happier time: Eric meets Olga Stapels (Monique van de Ven) on the roadside. He’s hitchhiking. The two get down to it in comically 70s fashion, having sex in the car quicker than most people today can initiate small talk. Unsurprisingly, their distracted driving leads to an accident. In great contrast to the man we saw in the movie’s opening, Eric takes care of her and soon the two begin dating despite her small-business-owning family’s protest. He is poor; he is an artist; he is a sex pest. But they are soon hitched at the courthouse surrounded by the prematurely pregnant (a very funny scene all its own). Domestic bliss seems to have won over even her stodgy mom. The rest concerns their descent into disagreement and their relationship’s implosion.

I cannot stress strongly enough how important sex is to them; it’s a constant. It saturates his work, for which Olga models and much of which shows her in the nude. Sex in this film is a primal relationship. Verhoeven shows us what earlier romantic comedies only dared suggest.

But this cannot last. Against Olga’s wishes, he sells a sketch of her made in an intimate moment. Eric makes the decision (we suspect, though Verhoeven does not show us) because he isn’t doing well economically. The raucous joy of their domestic world cannot compete with the iron laws of the market. The mode of production claims yet another victim.

What Verhoeven gets at throughout the film is the absurdity of life, its joys and sadnesses, its inescapable realities and the freedom we find and lose in negotiating our existences and those of our loved ones. Unlike the traditional screwball romantic comedy, the film lacks any sense that bizarreness or otherness successfully intrude into the everyday—indeed, the everyday disciplines and destroys whatever small Eden these two try to build. Rather he suggests that life is what it is: a collection of thises-and-thats that builds us up and destroy us.

Is there any salvation here? No. I wouldn’t call Verhoeven a Christian or even a hedonist. There is no escape. We viewers, however, get the beauty of the film itself, which, like their Eric and Olga’s relationship, provides an escape that, if only temporary, still satisfies.

Catholic

Religious Art

Previous Post

December 6, 2024

Mr. Vampire: Give Me Goofy or Give Me Death!

Next Post

December 20, 2024 Dracula: What Music Does Nosferatu Make?

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"Do The Right Thing was a terrible movie, with a terrible message, a man owns ..."

Frank Holzhauser

Do the Right Thing: What Can ..."

"NOT the experience of those who actually lived through those years. Let's not forget that.Too ..."

captcrisis

54: Let the Good Times Roll

"Your accurate assessment of where the Blockbuster and the studios have ended up reminded me ..."

Dave G.

Jaws: Ad Fontes

"Another Dementia experience: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkbxNibXiLx_ak8IuhZiutd2Fxe7_KAon&si=VhOYNUIBV3CTlyDf"

Ame

Dementia: Silent Nightmare

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Academia Culture Politics Reviews Theology Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 July 2021 December 2020 November 2020 July 2020 May 2020 April 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 August 2019 July 2019 April 2019 March 2019 December 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How many commandments were written on stone tablets?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Seven Twelve Ten Thirteen