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Controversial Dutch sex comedy comes to Blu-ray from Cult Epics
Blending edgy MIDNIGHT COWBOY arthouse neorealism with cheeky softcore pornography, director Wim Verstappen’s controversial and long unseen 1971 Dutch sex comedy BLUE MOVIE has finally spurted its way to Blu-ray courtesy of Eurotrash heroes Cult Epics and it’s cause for a kind of celebration. Because the movie (produced by the notorious Pim de la Parra) is a vital piece of the Dutch film industry’s evolution. It’s also tons of dirty, breezy fun and a fascinating time capsule of its time and place.
The lanky, Hugh Metsers plays Michael, an amiable lad just out of prison for shagging an underage girl who suddenly finds himself appendage deep in the early days of the swingin’ 70s. With the help from his ever-stressed and oddly paternal parole office, Michael is set up in a modern apartment complex and urged to both find a job and a nice single lady to settle down with. Alone and horny, Michael catches the eye of a slew of sexy housewives and soon, he’s moving from suite to suite, “borrowing sugar” and getting his rocks off with a bevy of liberated ladies. Before he knows it, this Dutch Don Juan become a kind of sexual guru, setting up a series of orgies and milking his new found freedom for all its worth.
What’s most interesting about BLUE MOVIE is its social politics, the likes of which may seem shocking to younger, contemporary audiences. The fact that Michael’s sexual dalliance with a minor is mostly played for laughs is odd and odder still is that his perpetual voyeurism is rewarded so handsomely by a slew of promiscuous women. Why these housewives find the skinny, balding, side-burned slouch so appealing is a mystery too but as unsavory on the surface as it all is, BLUE MOVIE is ultimately a rather charming affair and an innocent sign of its times. It has a groovy laid back energy and despite the endless shots of erect penises and hairy vaginas engaged in all manner of shenanigans, none of it feels particularly exploitative. The film is also handsomely shot by future SPEED director Jan de Bont, making the labyrinthine low-rise apartment feel like a character. Think of David Cronenberg’s SHIVERS without the blood parasites and goosed with plenty of laughs and you get a sense of what to expect.
A must for Eurosex cinema completists, this is an important release of a movie that would have otherwise slunk into the ether. Recommended.