Once Beaten, Twice Shy

(EENMAAL GESLAGEN, NOOIT MEER BEWOGEN) ((DUTCH))

A Studio Nieuwe Gronden production, in association with NOS-TV. (International sales: Cinemien, Amsterdam.) Produced by Rene Scholten. Directed by Gerrard Verhage. Screenplay, Ger Beukenkamp, from the novel "La Meche" (The Game) by Lucie Veldhuyzen-Marchal.

Mother ... Ineke Veenhoven
Charles ... Jack Wouterse
Gina ... Ariane Schluter
Mary ...Kathenka Woudenberg
Jozef ... Stefan de Walle

Solid direction and strong performances hold the attention in "Once Beaten, Twice Shy," a black comedy centered on a dysfunctional Dutch family. Pic's only real faults are some fuzziness in the development and a lack of dramatic highs. Reliance on dialogue consigns the pic to small-screen sales within Europe, but it's good quality gab for most of the way.

Story, set in the '50s and based on a Belgian novel, is mostly set in a rambling, book-laden house in southern Amsterdam, wherein live a domineering mother (Ineke Veenhoven), her bookish son, Charles (Jack Wouterse), and sexually enigmatic daughter, Gina (Ariane Schluter). Their lodger-cousin, Jozef (Stefan de Walle), fantasizes over girlie mags when he's not pacing the room trying to think up a good plot for his novel.

Inspiration comes with the news that Charles is hooked on a glamorous woman across the street (Kathenka Woudenberg) who is suspected of murder (never explained). Charles' introduction of this intellectual featherweight into the household spurs a family breakdown, ending with the mother hurling the woman's dog through the window and Gina coming out of the closet as a lesbian.

Most of the pic is well-played dialogue scenes between various combinations of the quintet as they play intellectual games and work out long-buried tensions. There's also the chance that the whole thing is imagined by the slightly crazed, over-imaginative writer.

Performances are all nicely in tune with the low-key, Grand Guignol atmosphere, with notable turns by Schluter (so good in Theo van Gogh's sex-talk pic "06") as the repressed, chain-smoking daughter, and Jack Wouterse as her lumbering bro. Helmer Gerrard Verhage gets good mileage from the antique-heavy mansion, and all tech credits are smooth and confident.

Camera (color), Nils Post; editors, Stefan Kamp, Hens van Rooy; music, Fons Merkies; art direction, Harry Ammerlaan; costume design, Bernadette Corstens; sound, Marcel de Hoogd; assistant director, Bart Reddingius. Reviewed at Dutch Film Festival (competing), Utrecht, Sept. 26, 1994. Running time: 82 MIN.

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