Review of Turkish Delight (1973) by Sam I — 19 Mar 2007
Terrific right up until its last 20 minutes when it becomes a completely different film and falls apart in the process. Paul Verhoven makes a real impression with this, his second film as a director. He garners great performances from Rutger Hauer and Monique Van De Ven in the central roles as an unbalanced sculptor and his new wife and muse.
It's unmistakably and unrepentantly a Paul Verhoven movie, packed to the gills with sex and nudity (Van De Ven seems to spend the majority of her screen time with at least half her body exposed) and featuring some rather nasty violence a couple of times.
Add to this a couple of shots you'd only ever find in a Verhoven film (a woman's water breaking at her wedding and a dog getting up to lick it off the seat leaps to mind) and you've an original talent clearly setting out his stall.
It's a shame that the fun, flighty, atmosphere get jettosined at the end of the film but for 80 minutes this is great entertainment.
This review of Turkish Delight (1973) was written by Sam I on 19 Mar 2007.
Turkish Delight has generally received positive reviews.
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