De Vierde Man (The Fourth Man)

Reflection Paper:

De Vierde Man (The Fourth Man)

De Vierde Man is a Dutch suspense film directed by Paul Verhoeven, based on the novel De Vierde Man by Gerard Reve. The film is sexually explicit and shows graphic violence and gore. This is a modern film noir. But also deals with religion, fate and forewarning.

I think that De Vierde Man isn’t a bad film. It is about reality if it has meaning or does it have no meaning. It is overloaded with different kinds of symbols. The opening image of a fly caught in a spider’s web is an obvious but effective visual summation of the plot. The novel is a frame narrative.

The director carefully steers the story that leaves us wondering at times if Christine is a witch, and at other times if the writer is just a victim of a morbid Catholic upbringing and a runaway imagination.

There were repeated uses of the color red, the blood, the Virgin Mary, and the Cross, including: a spider climbs over a crucified figure of Jesus in pursuit of a struggling fly; Gerard  tips his glass to a statue of the Virgin Mary, as he takes the first drink of the day; a woman peels an apple, then shapes the peel into a halo over her boy's head; Gerard drinks a Bloody Mary; red flower petals blow in the breeze and a sign reads “Donate Your Blood to the Red Cross.”

In the film, the Virgin Mary appears to Gerard in visions to show that he is targeted as Christine’s fourth victim. Mary says, “Anyone given a warning must listen to it.” Gerard listens and his life is spared.

De Vierde Man has something to do with vision of religion. I think it would be nice to believe that there is a God somewhere out there. For me, the film is like a sign of belief and religion because of the symbols that were showed and the appearance of the Virgin Mary. It serves as a warning, not only to Gerard but also for us. It emphasizes that if we keep the faith, someone above will be watching over us.