ABSTRACT

In the preface I explain why this study, a sequel to the Humour and Irony book, should not be taken as a scholarly survey of ‘national cinema’ issues. Owing to the many influences from foreign pictures, Dutch fiction films are best read against the background of an international cinematic context. It is an oftvoiced claim that Dutch cinema is rooted in realism, but I employ a version of psychoanalysis ‘lite’ in order to explore the imaginative potential of Dutch cinema. Moreover, the advantage of reading the films through the prism of psychoanalysis is that it enables me to structure this study as a ‘database’: surprising associations between films are favoured over chronological accounts.

KEYWORDS

Psychoanalysis ‘lite’ – imaginative potential – database structure – surprising Associations

Hopefully, this study is to my previous book Humour and Irony in Dutch Post-war Fiction Film what MAD MAX: THE ROAD WARRIOR (George Miller, 1981) is to Miller's MAD MAX (1979): the sequel is even better than the original. The study from 2016 covered a great many titles, but still some of the very best Dutch films were missing: the theatrical DE DANS VAN DE REIGER (Fons Rademakers, 1966), the adventurous SOLDAAT VAN ORANJE (Paul Verhoeven, 1977), the nailbiting SPOORLOOS (George Sluizer, 1988), the painfully intimate LEEDVERMAAK (Frans Weisz, 1989), the merciless VAN GOD LOS (Pieter Kuijpers, 2003), to name just a few. This study is intended to make up for this lack, but despite the term ‘Dutch’ as the first word of the title, the reader should not take this as a scholarly survey of ‘national cinema’ issues nor as a study of new directions in national cinema. This book contains hardly any discussions of production histories, of industrial forces, or reception by critics and/or audiences (but I cordially invite scholars to use this book to contribute to such discussions). This study does not even address Dutch cinema as a national cultural practice. I could have selected only those films that have a common style or have similar dramatic themes in order to agree on some national specificities or cultural curiosities.