Dutch director Paul Verhoeven is perhaps the maddest genius of the last fifty years, a man perpetually one or two steps ahead of the critics and the culture. His filmography in America—beginning with 1985's Flesh + Blood—vacillates between wildly successful and woefully underperforming. But, unlike many other directors, virtually every film he made during his fifteen year tenure in America has been retrospectively recognized for its brilliance—except maybe Hollow Man, which admittedly isn't that brilliant.
The other thing his films are famous for is their frank and explicit sexual content, usually with lots of nudity, though he manages to never make it feel gratuitous—except in Showgirls where it was purposefully so. Come with us now on a journey through that magical fifteen year period when Verhoeven was granted free reign in Hollywood to make whatever crazy films he wanted...
Flesh + Blood (1985)
Made in the wake of the medieval movie craze of the early 80s—ushered in by filmslikeExcalibur and Dragonslayer—Verhoeven's first English languageproduction sought to satirize the romanticism of those films.He wanted to present 16th Century Europe as it was, basically a terrible time to be a woman.
Despite the strong wills of such beauties as Jennifer Jason Leigh, Susan Tyrell, and even Bart Simpson herself, Nancy Cartwright, they all end up subservient to men in the end. But such were the times, and Verhoeven was the one guy unafraid to show these barbarous times as they were.
Verhoeven carries over two important things from his prior Dutch work into this film. First is Rutger Hauer, who had made four films with Verhoeven in their native Netherlands. However, their working relationship on this film was so terrible that they never worked together again.
Second, and more importantly, he brings over his love of nudity from films like Spetters, Turkish Delight, and his previous endeavor, The 4th Man. This flick is jam packed with skin from the aforementioned ladies, as well as Marina Sauraand Blanca Marsillach!
Robocop (1987)
Despite it's status as a masterful satire of 80s yuppie excess and the dangers of everything from a police state, to technology run amok, to state run media, Robocop is the only one of Verhoeven's American films with no credited nudity. It's a real shame, I know, but don't skip this one just for that reason. It's amazing and totally holds up thirty-plus years later.
Total Recall (1990)
The first R-rated movie I saw in a movie theater, Total Recallwas an absolute box office juggernaut in the summer of 1990. The film's unique structure keeps the audience in a dreamlike state throughout, and my appreciation of this film has only grown in the nearly thirty years since it came out.
Two major thingsin Verhoeven's career happen as a result of this film. First and foremost, it was the first time he worked with Sharon Stone, a casting move that would lead to the biggest film of their respective careers two years later.
More importantly, however, it gave us the three-boobed lady played by a prosthetic sporting Lycia Naff. Honestly, if this isn't the biggest moment in early 90s science fiction cinema, I don't know what is. Everyone talked about this scene for years. They still talk about. If you ask someone, "Tell me two things about Total Recall," they'll inevitable say "The three-boobed lady and 'Get your ass to Mahz!'" Guaranteed.
Basic Instinct (1992)
The first of Verhoeven's two collaborations with screenwriter Joe Eszterhas, Basic Instinct was a phenomenon throughout the spring and early summer of 1992.Hotly debated before it even hit theaters, the film was a lightning rod for controversy, ultimately sending people to the theaters in droves.
The film would gross $117 million in the U.S., which is only two million less than Total Recall made, butworldwide it blew the sci-fi film out of the water with a grand total of $352 million, compared with Recall's $261 million. That's absolutely astonishing in this day and age, but it crowned Verhoeven the undisputed king of grown-up blockbusters.
Its troubled production and ultimate triumph has been documented better elsewhere, so I won't drudge too much of it up again. Instead I would encourage you to watch the behind the scenes documentary "Blonde Poison,"available in full on YouTube. It covers both sides of the film's controversy better than I ever could. Oh, and I can't leave without at least mentioning this earth shattering moment...
Showgirls (1995)
Andthen things start to fall apart...
Legend has it that screenwriter Joe Eszterhas received two million dollars for his pitch for the film—written on a napkin—and another $1.5 million for the script itself. Verhoeven decides to re-team with the writer for this Vegas-set quasi-remake of All About Eve, and he also decides to crank the camp factor up to eleven.
Though this NC-17 camp fest has rightfully and finally gotten its due as the melodramatic masterpiece that it is, Showgirls was reviled in its day. Mostly it suffered from the stigma of the NC-17 rating, and though Verhoeven leaned into the opportunities the rating afforded him, people just didn't want to buy a ticket to it, lest people think they were filthy, disgusting, sex fiends.
Then it hit home video and people saw stuff like this...
And it started to click. Oh, it's supposed to be this campy and vampy and over the top. Sadly, poor Elizabeth Berkley was not in on the joke—nor was anyone outside of Gina Gershon, really—and her career was destroyed. The years have been kind to her performance, however, and the naiveté and earnestness she brings to the character of Nomi absolutely works in the film's favor.
Verhoeven was in on the joke immediately, becoming the first director ever to show up in person to accept his Razzie Awards.Strangely, though, this film didn't hurt Verhoeven's career right away. It was, however, the first in a three film series that basically drove him out of Hollywood.
Starship Troopers (1997)
Verhoeven was on fire with his next film, Starship Troopers. Following the disappointing box office ofShowgirls, Verhoeven and RoboCop screenwriter Ed Neumeier decided to adapt Robert A. Heinlen's controversial fascist novel into a parody of German propaganda films. This is Leni Reifenstahl's Triumph of the Will but with giant killer bugs.
Appearing on Adam Carolla's podcast in 2014, Verhoeven regular Michael Ironside told Carolla that he questioned Verhoeven for adapting the novel in the first place, since he grew up in the Netherlands under Nazi-occupation. He said that Verhoeven's responded...
"If I tell the world that a right-wing fascist way of doing things doesn't work then no one will listen to me, so I'm going to make a perfect fascist world everyone is beautiful, everyone is shiny, everything has big guns and fancy ships but it's only good for killing fucking bugs!"
Verhoeven once again tricked most of his cast, favoring good looking actors who deliveredflat, unconvincing line readings, but very much looked like the genetic ideal in a fascist society. Denise Richards and Casper Van Dien may not impress us much, but when viewed through the prism Verhoeven's presenting, they're pretty perfectly cast.
And who could forget the lovely Dina Meyer—who acquits herself rather nicely with a sympathetic performance as Dizzy—and, of course, that famous coed shower scene! Verhoeven and long time Cinematographer Jost Vacano put the cast at ease during the shower scene by stripping down themselves.
However, the film's failure to recoup even half of its enormous budget, coupled with the poor critical reception, once again adversely affected Verhoeven's career. The re-evaluation of the film as a note perfect satire eventually brought folks around on it, but it was damaging at the time.
Hollow Man (2000)
For his final English language film—as of publication time—he tried to go a little more commercial, and brought us this sleazy quasi-horror film. Honestly, the less said about Hollow Man, the better. It's a real swing and a miss from a director who stopped using nudity in a sexual way, and began using it as a turn-off.
It's not a total loss, but the nudity is very deliberately un-sexy. However, Verhoeven himself admitted in an interview in 2013 that it is the only film he made that he thinks was unsuccessful as a work of art...
"I decided after Hollow Man, this is a movie, the first movie that I made that I thought I should not have made. It made money and this and that, but it really is not me anymore. I think many other people could have done that. I don't think many people could have made RoboCop that way, or either Starship Troopers. But Hollow Man, I thought there might have been twenty directors in Hollywood who could have done that. I felt depressed with myself after 2002."
Perhaps the most interesting tidbits about Hollow Man are that it was Verhoeven's first film to get an R-rating from the MPAA on first submission. He didn't have to make any cuts to avoid an NC-17. The other interesting fact is that this would mark Verhoeven's sixth film to either get a sequel or be remade by a director other than himself, a record for any director. The other four films are RoboCop, Total Recall, Basic Instinct, Showgirls, and Starship Troopers.
Other than that, it was a ratherundignified film to go out on, but his work since Hollow Man—though not in English—has been on par with the rest of his work. Both Black Book and Elle are incredible films and jam packed with nudity!
I hope you have come out of this appreciating Verhoeven more than you did before, and I encourage you to read more about him. He is a lunatic, but he's also one of the best directors that's ever lived. What are your favorite Paul Verhoeven films? Let me know in the comments section below.
