Spetters

Spetters (English translation: Splashes) is a Dutch film directed by Paul Verhoeven. The film follows the lives of three young men who have little in common but their love for dirt-bike racing. Set on the outskirts of Rotterdam, the film depicts three characters who are hoping to escape a dead-end, working-class existence.

The film was a small success in the United States, and it helped launch the Hollywood careers of Verhoeven and some of the actors, including Jeroen Krabbé, Rutger Hauer and Renee Soutendijk.<ref name="dutch centre"/>

Plot

Two young motocross racers, Rien and Hans, and their mechanic, Eef, dream of fame, fortune and casual sex. Their hero is legendary motocross champion Gerrit Witkamp, who inspires their competitive rides. The motocross racers want to make their marks as professional racers, but their hopes don't go according to their plans.

Each of the boys is seduced by Fientje, a young woman who, with her brother, sells French fries and kroket at the races. She is looking for the person who will help her get out of the business and away from her brother. Eventually, she makes the three men face the reality of success, defeat and homosexuality.

Cast

• Hans van Tongeren as Rien
• Renée Soutendijk as Fientje
• Toon Agterberg as Eef
• Maarten Spanjer as Hans
• Marianne Boyer as Maya
• Peter Tuinman as Jaap
• Saskia van Basten-Batenburg (credited as Saskia Ten Batenburg) as Truus
• Yvonne Valkenburg as Annette
• Ab Abspoel (credited as Albert Abspoel) as Rien's Father
• Rudi Falkenhagen as Hans' Father
• Hans Veerman as Eef's Father
• Ben Aerden as Elderly Homosexual
• Kitty Courbois as Doctor
• Margot Keune as Girl On Moped
• Jonna Koster as Gerrit's Wife
• Gees Linnebank as Homosexual
• Hugo Metsers as a Hell's Angel
• Peter Oosthoek as Priest
• Jeroen Krabbé as Frans Henkhof
• Rutger Hauer as Gerrit Witkamp
• Bruni Heinke as Mother In Car
• Herman Vinck as Driver

Background

The film led to protests about how Verhoeven portrayed gays,<ref name="Chen"/> Christians, the police, and the press. Although Verhoeven made one more film in the Netherlands, the response to Spetters led him to leave for Hollywood. Despite the large amount of controversy surrounding it,<ref name="Chen"/> the film proved to be popular, with 1,124,162 admissions in the Netherlands alone.<ref name="Smith"/> The town of Maassluis was the setting for the movie.

Reception

Template:Rotten Tomatoes prose Anton Bitel from Little White Lies wrote that "in these young men's stories, as they become caught up in a collision of older and newer values, you can also see the painful emergence of the Dutch nation from its own Calvinist, homophobic, colonialist past."<ref name="bitel 2019"/>

Nicholas Royle of Time Out opined you should "imagine a Mike Leigh film set in Holland with motorbike stunts, packed with authentic action sequences and sexual frankness, including an eye-popping cock-measuring contest."<ref name="royle 2012"/> Film critic Vincent Canby commented that "Verhoeven attempts to jazz things up with a number of soft-core pornographic sequences, which make the movie look even more old-fashioned; all of the performers stand head and shoulders above the material."<ref name="canby 1981"/>

Critic Michael Bronski stated "for all of its outspokenness and sexual frankness Spetters is a nice movie about three boys growing up; the middle class disenchantment that we have grown used to in Hollywood films is totally absent here; except for the gay boy whose father is a religious fanatic, all the young people and their parents seem to get along fine."<ref name="bronski 1983"/> The Stranger wrote "the film never condones the antics but condemns the sort of masculinity and conservatism fomented in Dutch culture; still, it's tough and shocking."<ref name="keimig 2021"/>

Home media

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray by Lumiere Home Entertainment on 8 May 2012.<ref name="cloosterman "/>

See also

• Cinema of the Netherlands
• List of Dutch actors
• List of Dutch films of the 1980s
• List of LGBTQ-related films of 1980

Further reading

• Template:Cite journal

External links

• Template:IMDb title
• Spetters trailer at YouTube