

In pre-WWII Holland, the penniless, illegitimate son of a powerful bailiff sets out to become a lawyer as he spends a lifetime struggling to prove his worth to his relentlessly spiteful father.
Acting
Jan Decleir's Dreverhaven: pure volcanic contempt in human form.
Direction
Van Diem squeezes claustrophobia from every Dutch interior.
Cinematography
Shadows so thick you could sue them for emotional damages.

Director
Mike van Diem
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Mike van Diem's first feature; it won the Foreign Language Film Oscar and he basically vanished from cinema afterward.
Based on Ferdinand Bordewijk's 1938 novel, a cornerstone of Dutch literary modernism rarely translated because its bleakness resists export.