Of course, with wartime spy romances, it’s expected to have conflicted desire, twisty betrayals, and the internal war between personal love and national duty. Black Book delivers this in spades, infusing the drama with writer-director Paul Verhoeven’s propensity for sex and violence, which he brings back to his homeland after two decades apart. The drama is well-made, especially with the talented Carice van Houten as a survival-first composite spy character inspired by several resistance members, but the familiar plot, the melodrama, and the pacing can make the 2 and a half hour runtime feel a bit tedious for some viewers. Still, for fans of the genre, Black Book isn’t a terrible choice to watch.
"It's a marvelous movie-movie, with a new screen goddess. Van Houten has a soft, heart-shaped face on top of a body so naturally, ripely beautiful it has its own kind of truth."
— David Edelstein
"Hollywood-honed tech smarts and European character sensibilities mesh entertainingly in pacy WWII resistance thriller Black Book."
— Derek Elley
Israel, 1956: Jewish teacher Rachel Stein rather unexpectedly meets an old friend at the kibbutz. It brings back memories of her experiences in the Netherlands during the war, memories of betrayal. In September 1944, Rachel's hiding place is bombed by Allied troops; she makes contact with a resistance member and joins a group of Jews to be smuggled across the Biesbosch to the freed South Netherlands. Only Rachel escapes a massacre by patrol Germans, and is rescued by a resistance group under the leadership of Gerben Kuipers, whose son is captured trying to smuggle weapons. Kuipers asks Rachel to seduce SS-hauptsturmführer Ludwig Müntze, a mission that she will soon learn that the boat attack wasn't a coincidence.
Netherlands, World War II. After the Nazis occupied the country, Jewish agent Rachel Stein is assigned a new identity as Dutch singer Ellis de Vries in order to seduce Gestapo captain Ludwig Müntze.
Before preaching about the Lord of Light as Melisandre in Game of Thrones, Carice van Houten made her breakthrough as Rachel Stein here, and her charisma makes it instantly clear how she ended up becoming a star.
Melisandre can sing?!
Venice
1 win
BAFTA
1 nomination
European Film Awards
2 nominations
