Zwartboek [2006] dir Paul Verhoeven

Zwartboek (2006)


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0389557/

Black Book (Dutch: Zwartboek) is a 2006 World War II film directed by Paul Verhoeven, and starring Carice van Houten, Sebastian Koch, Thom Hoffman, and Halina Reijn. The story is about a young Jewish woman in the Netherlands who becomes a spy for the resistance during World War II after tragedy befalls her in an encounter with the Nazis. The film had its world premiere on September 1, 2006 at the Venice Film Festival and its public release on September 14, 2006 in the Netherlands.


Carice van Houten ... Rachel Stein / Ellis de Vries

Sebastian Koch ... Ludwig Müntze

Thom Hoffman ... Hans Akkermans

Halina Reijn ... Ronnie
Waldemar Kobus ... Günther Franken
Derek de Lint ... Gerben Kuipers

Christian Berkel ... General Käutner
Dolf de Vries ... Notary Wim Smaal
Peter Blok ... Van Gein

Michiel Huisman ... Rob
Ronald Armbrust ... Tim Kuipers
Frank Lammers ... Kees
Matthias Schoenaerts ... Joop

Johnny de Mol ... Theo
Xander Straat ... Maarten


The press in the Netherlands was divided, but with three Golden Calves Black Book was the most awarded film at the Netherlands Film Festival in 2006. The international press responded positively, especially to the performance of van Houten. It was the Dutch submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2007, but was not nominated.

At the time of its release, it was the most expensive Dutch film ever made, and also the Netherlands' most commercially successful, with that country's highest box office gross of 2006. In 2008, the Dutch public voted it the best Dutch film ever


After 20 years of filmmaking in the United States, Paul Verhoeven returned to his homeland, the Netherlands, for the making of Black Book. The story was written by Verhoeven and screenwriter Gerard Soeteman, with whom he made successful films such as Turkish Delight (1973) and Soldier of Orange (1977). The two men had been working on the script for fifteen years, but they solved their story problems in the early 2000s by changing the main character from male to female. According to Verhoeven, Black Book was born out of elements that did not fit in any of his earlier movies, and it can be seen as a supplement to his earlier film about World War II Soldier of Orange.

Verhoeven has emphasized that the story does not show an obvious moral contrast between characters, for a theme of moral relativism:

“ In this movie, everything has a shade of grey. There are no people who are completely good and no people who are completely bad. It's like life. It's not very Hollywoodian.”

Black Book is not a true story, unlike Soldier of Orange, but Verhoeven states that many of the events are true. As in the film, the German headquarters were in The Hague. In 1944 many Jews that tried to cross to liberated parts of the southern Netherlands were entrapped by Dutch policemen. As in the film, crossing attempts took place in the Biesbosch. Events are related to the life of Verhoeven, who was born in 1938 and grew up in The Hague during the Second World War.