Hoge hakken, echte liefde (1981) User Reviews

Underestimated funny Dutch time-document

[ariferrari69 · 8/10 · 3 February 2004]

Director and author Dimitri Frenkel Frank is in this movie a real master of hilarious conversations (check out the chit-chat with the barpersonel and the barber/dresser), punch-lines and typical accents.

The plot is quit simple. A bored director (magnificently performed by Rijk de Gooijer), stuck in his mid-life crisis, becomes in love with the well-shaped working class cashier. (young Monique van de Ven)

He wants to become part of the working class and gets in all kind of tricky situations. (Jackell/Hyde syndrome. He hates it, but loves it at the same time and can't choose which character he has to become. One of them must die

The typical Dutch characters reflects very well the Netherlands at the beginning of the eighties. My favorite Dutch spoken movie.

Good fun is timeless

[vitachiel · 8/10 · 24 January 2008]

Very funny and very Dutch movie with an interesting idea: boss of large construction company goes undercover as a fork-lift truck driver to see what goes on at the bottom of his company. Initially, he takes this step as a reaction to being bored with his phony upper class environment and his dulled upper class wife and kids. After a short while, he feels the urge to take action because of the bad working environment of the labourers (instigated by his crush on the canteen girl). It all ends with Snoek (his alter ego) challenging Roggeveen (him as boss) for a shooting duel.

De Gooyer is perfect in his double role as posh manager/coarse labourer. Although the acting seems a bit clumsily at times, this doesn't do harm to the characters credibility. Hell, this movie isn't meant to be credible, it's just plain fun. It ridicules everyone: upper class, lower class, communists, capitalists, women, men, no exceptions. The scene where Snoek meets his father in-law (Leen Jongewaard) is classic. I wonder whether non-Dutch speakers will apprehend the feel and irony of the comedy in this movie, for me as a Dutchie it was definitely a real treat!