Nevertheless, they failed to attract mass audiences; Pim de la Parra stated, with his customary sense of the dramatic, that his debut Obsessions simply had to succeed, otherwise he and all his contemporaries would be doomed to play the role of a lost generation. De la Parra’s debut – a ‘sex-psycho-suspense-murder-mystery’ – did indeed prove to be a box-office hit, and was followed by the first big successes for Dutch film in the early seventies, including titles such as Mira (Fons Rademakers), Wat zien ik? (Paul Verhoeven) and Blue Movie (Wim Verstappen).
These successes, however – Turks fruit, Help de dokter verzuipt, Rooie Sien and Soldaat van Oranje together sold millions of tickets – overshadowed the films being made by the first wave of Film Academy students. Undeservedly, as these too displayed a daring approach and were in the main successful films showcasing the potential of the up-and-coming generation.
Films, Talks & Events
Dutch New Wave
Revolution in Dutch cinema
25 February — 7 April 2027
still De minder gelukkige terugkeer van Joszef Katús naar het land van Rembrandt (Wim Verstappen, NL 1966)
This new generation wanted to leave behind studio productions where actors exchanged literary dialogues using a theatrical delivery, in narratives told in strictly chronological order. Inspired by their French, Italian and West German contemporaries, Weisz, Verstappen, De la Parra and their contemporaries brought about a veritable revolution in Dutch cinema.
They were young and wanted to counter what they saw as the staid, middle-class Dutch cinema of the fifties. Adriaan Ditvoorst, Pim de la Parra, Frans Weisz, Wim Verstappen, René Daalder and Nikolai van der Heyde were captivated by the free, unembellished Italian neorealist style and the French nouvelle vague; they wanted to make films about life itself, with true-to-life characters, like those of Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard.
still Obsessions (Pim de la Parra, NL /DE 1969)
Their stories were about a doomed love affair between a racing driver and a model (Een ochtend van zes weken, Nikolai van der Heyde); a novelist who becomes entangled in a screenplay about a young woman who kills her lover (Het gangstermeisje, Frans Weisz); or Joszef, a young man roaming the streets of Amsterdam during the Provo era (De minder gelukkige terugkeer van Joszef Katús naar het land van Rembrandt, Pim de la Parra/Wim Verstappen).
The films made by these new makers were received as a breath of fresh air, hailed for their natural performances, inventive camerawork, contemporary subjects and artistic elan.
still Het compromis (Philo Bregstein, NL 1968)
still De blanke slavin (René Daalder, NL 1969)
Films, Talks & Events
The Dutch New Wave programme puts the feature films of the late sixties in the spotlight again, as well as marking our farewell to Eye’s curator of Dutch Film, Rommy Albers.
Eye Film Player
You can watch Gangster Girl, The Compromise and other Dutch classics at home via Eye Film Player.
Read more in our Film Files
still Een ochtend van zes weken (Nikolai van der Heyde, NL 1966)
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