Rating: 
Summary: Thoroughly depressing
Review: Can't really say much more. When I first watched this the start of it made me laugh.....don't know why but it just did. There was a scene in it where Rutger Hauer says he's better than Jesus ( in the bedroom ) but come the second half of the movie, the film is ultra depressing and you'd have to have a heart made of stone not to be a little emotional. The thing is is that it feels so real what's going on that it's hard remembering that it's only a film. For weeks I couldn't get this out of my head and even now I'm a little reluctant to put it back in because the film although I haven't seen it since I bought it but there are parts in the film I can remember too well. When Erik ( Hauer ) brings home another girl that was prime for the bed there's the statue of Olga ( the amazingly beautiful Monique Van de Ven ) and for a split second Hauer thinks he sees Olga in the flesh until the girl turns the light on and sees that it was just the statue. It's enough to turn off Erik's passion for sex in an instant. It's truly chilling when you see it again ( OK I admit I tried watching it again but just couldn't after I saw that scene )The love that Erik has for Olga is beyond intense. He's so obsessed that he cannot bear to see her with another man. And like Erik this is the sort of film that transcends that message across to the viewer. Some relationships that have broken up can still have the " we can still be friends " and can happily go on but for the others they may not want to go through the pain again knowing the things they know. It's my opinion that in some respects this movie could also leave you ending up one or the other
Rating: 
Summary: Musique?
Review: Great movie!
I thought he music was an important part of the film.
All these reviews are helpful, but the main theme starting with the beach scene was credited wrong.
In the directors commentary he credits Szymanowski-King boris, but the only thing close to that title is King Roger, which i purchased, but that music is not on the king Roger CD.
does anybody know?
Rating:
Summary: Unexpectedly good
Review: I bought this film mostly because of its scandalous reputation, so that I could form my personal opinion. But what started like a crude and laughable grotesque suddenly turned into a serious and emotional drama. I believe it's done not without Ingmar Berman's influence, as it deals with Bergman's favorite themes - love, sex and death, but for the former it's more graphic that the master would ever go for. However, in our times these scenes don't show as shocking at all, although one can only imagine what an upheaval they must have caused back in seventies. I would recommend this film to serious viewers only, it's definitely not about light entertainment but rather about profound issues of artistic expression, love and death. I also think that in its graphical approach it is very North European, and comes in a sharp contrast with Italian cinema, for example.
Rating:
Summary: Unexpectedly good
Review: I bought this film mostly because of its scandalous reputation, so that I could form my personal opinion. But what started like a crude and laughable grotesque suddenly turned into a serious and emotional drama. I believe it's done not without Ingmar Berman's influence, as it deals with Bergman's favorite themes - love, sex and death, but for the former it's more graphic that the master would ever go for. However, in our times these scenes don't show as shocking at all, although one can only imagine what an upheaval they must have caused back in seventies. I would recommend this film to serious viewers only, it's definitely not about light entertainment but rather about profound issues of artistic expression, love and death. I also think that in its graphical approach it is very North European, and comes in a sharp contrast with Italian cinema, for example.
Rating:
Summary: Not Soon Forgotten
Review: I went to see this movie with a boyfriend when we were both about eighteen - so this was nearly 24 years ago. Neither of us had a clue what we were in for. All I can say it that we both sat riveted to our seats throughout the movie and did not speak on the way home. Several days later we did speak and both of us admitted that neither of us could stop thinking about the movie, almost incessantly, it turned out. Never has any movie made a bigger impression on me or hit me more deeply or closer to where I live. Images from this movie dominated my head for hours, days, weeks, months and even years afterwards. I don't know what, if anything, I learned from it - I just know that I was obsessed with what I had witnessed on the screen, for whatever reason. For details of the story, see the excellent reviews above. I just wanted to write about the effect that it had on me. Perhaps I should see it again, at age 41, and maybe find out what it was that so captivated me. Or perhaps I'll never be able to put it into words.
Rating:
Summary: Not Soon Forgotten
Review: I went to see this movie with a boyfriend when we were both about eighteen - so this was nearly 24 years ago. Neither of us had a clue what we were in for. All I can say it that we both sat riveted to our seats throughout the movie and did not speak on the way home. Several days later we did speak and both of us admitted that neither of us could stop thinking about the movie, almost incessantly, it turned out. Never has any movie made a bigger impression on me or hit me more deeply or closer to where I live. Images from this movie dominated my head for hours, days, weeks, months and even years afterwards. I don't know what, if anything, I learned from it - I just know that I was obsessed with what I had witnessed on the screen, for whatever reason. For details of the story, see the excellent reviews above. I just wanted to write about the effect that it had on me. Perhaps I should see it again, at age 41, and maybe find out what it was that so captivated me. Or perhaps I'll never be able to put it into words.
Rating:
Summary: something special about it......it just wont leave my mind
Review: Initially I thought this was too pornographic to have any underlying meaning. But after 30 minutes I just couldnt stop watching. It is love in its rawest form.
Rating:
Summary: It¿s crude, it¿s shocking!
Review: It's crude, it's shocking, it's filled with more heartbreaking scenes you could ever stand and it's classic Paul Verhoeven when he was still 'De Man', way before he became 'The Man'. When this film was released in Holland people were standing in endless queues in front of the Tuschinski theater in Amsterdam back in 1973 (!!!!), it caused a genuine witchhunt towards Verhoeven and every well broughtup decent citizen screamed it was a total slap in the face for human decency and family values. Why then did everybody go to see this hopeless lovestory? Basicly to see some nakedness on a white screen I guess, but there's more to it. The film is such an frightenly accurate account of a hopeless love between 2 people and told without unnessesary falseness in such a simple, naked style ( boy meets girl in the 70's, girl dies of illness in the '70, boy is alone again in the '70) that it's sometimes hard to watch. There's so much weird humour and clever camera moves (Jan 'Speed'de Bont) you instantly recognize Verhoeven's style. Rutger Hauer and Monique van de Ven are giving their performances of a lifetime, as is the town of seventies Amsterdam. It's a film that gives you that feeling of 'I was living in Holland at that time I wanted to be like them'. The orchestral score by Rogier Van Otterloo and Jean 'Toots' Thielemans' mouthorgan are colouring this picture to heartbreaking perfection. Funny thing is, when the film is aired on TV nowadays (uncut, this is Holland you know) it still gets a number 1 top viewers audience. Make this DVD a double bill together with Betty Blue on a cold winter night!
Rating:
Summary: A VERY ADULT LOVE STORY....
Review: Paul Verhoeven's 1973 far-from-Hollywood film opens with the [physical] escapades of Erik (Rutger Hauer) a womanizing self-destructive artist. Alone in his apartment/studio, he reflects back on his life and a painful episode that he can't forget. He met Olga (Monique Van de Ven) in a car accident. They embarked on a wild [physical] affair and Erik fell in love...hard. Olga had personality quirks that confused Erik but he just wrote it off as part of her nature. They married and Olga's behavior became more disturbing until she finally retreated to her mother's and refused to see Erik. Confounded, Erik demanded to see her and still didn't understand the problem. Then Olga winds up in the hospital seriously ill and her problem is revealed to Erik's shattered disbelief. "Turkish Delight" is the name of Olga's favorite candy. He brings it to the hospital to try and get her to eat. This is a powerful, moving and , yes, erotic story beautifully done by Verhoeven and brilliantly acted by Hauer and especially Van de Ven. There is very frank nudity and [physical] scenes that threaten to push your buttons but Verhoeven is the type of director who just throws back the curtain and tells the story. You understand why Erik is the guy he is. Love and [physical attraction] are powerful drugs and death can make you extremely bitter. "Turkish Delight" was nominated as Best Foreign Launguage film in 1974 at the Oscars in Hollywood. Once seen, it is not easily forgotten. It's a very potent adult love story and a gut wrencher. Excellent DVD transfer from Anchor Bay.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful Love Story
Review: Ranks as one of Verhoeven's best films with hypnotic and electrifying performances by Monique Van De Ven and Rutger Hauer. I was completely blown away by the images in this film and its frank honesty. This is a must see film that is easily of the best love stories ever captured on celluloid.
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