15, 145mins


Paul Verhoeven’s Second World War thriller Black Book is a remarkable departure for a director arguably best known for glossy blockbusters such as Robocop and Basic Instinct. The film turns on the fortunes of a young Jewish cabaret singer whose family is murdered by the Nazis. She joins the Dutch Resistance, dyes her hair blonde and works undercover in the headquarters of the Gestapo in The Hague, attempting to secure the release of captured Resistance fighters.

Carice van Houten (see interview, page 18) is a sensation as Ellis de Vries, the feisty heroine of this enthralling melodrama. She uses her wit and sex appeal to distract, steal, hide and bribe. She is forced to seduce a German officer, Ludwig Müntze (an equally impressive Sebastian Koch), whose suspicions are sharpened by tiny discrepancies.

The twists are truly eyewatering. The uneasy power of van Houten’s performance resides in living an almost permanent lie. Her guilty affection for a man she should despise edges her into a moral no man’s land. A terrible price is exacted when an elaborate escape plan goes wrong. De Vries is accused of treachery by both sides. The toxic rivalry within the Resistance itself is genuinely shocking.

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