Das geheimnisvolle Kleid

Tales of Manhattan had a tuxedo. The Dress has a dress. There the similarity ends. What follows if a very smart, often disturbing parade of lives of people who happen to come in contact with a particularly hideous dress. It arouses unexpected, overwhelming lust in some, nothing in others, but it's a sure bet that if you have the dress you're in for something strange and probably not very pleasant.

The intriguing threads that bind this tapestry of frustrated longing together are a failed textile manufacturer and an obssessed ticket taker, who voices the movies' sad and in his case, misapplied motto: "I'm normal!" Here everyone and no one is.

The wit is subtle and sharp as a scalpel. All actors are excellent--especially unnerving is van Warmerdam himself as the doomed ticket taker. Pay very close attention to the faces and names of characters. They are sign posts for things to come.

This one absurd scene describes this movie at its best: Young woman, sleeping in her bed. Door of her room opens. Strange man walks in and steps into her bed. She wakes up in a state of shock. Man puts hand on het mouth and says: ssssshhhhh... it's ok, don't worry! It's only the ticket taker...

This is, as another comment already stated, a truly original movie. It's an episode movie, but not Boccaccio-style, tale by tale, the tales are developing from each other, and some characters keep reappearing. There are at least three reasons to love this movie: The performance of the director himself as the psychopathic ticket collector; the short segment showing musical indifferencies between dutch construction workers and Indian immigrants, and the timeless sequence that just hints at a very weird sexual orientation of a designer. This scene reminded me a lot of Bunuel's anarchism, see, i didn't just include his name above to be pretentious. The movie manages to be very funny at times, but some scenes do leave a bad taste in your mouth, without being sentimental or pathetic at any time. I've seen this movie three times now, and not just because i had some pretty bad experiences with ticket collectors and bus drivers too. If you get the chance to see it- Don't miss it.

"Five Fast Film Facts & Feelings" 1. Adding this to the list for interesting films made more intensely intriguing solely due to the (admittedly gimmicky) use of an inanimate item being followed around from story to story.

2. The director is known for his sexually subversive works. This one is no exception.

3. There are several characters where a back story could potentially lead to an even more compelling sequel film. Most memorable one is played by none other than the director- the train ticket collector whom is automatically severely sexually aroused by anyone wearing that dress!

4. Characters frequently make such arbitrary decisions and carry out such asinine deeds that it leaves little takeaway meaning from the film.

5. Appreciate the definite ending on this eponymous dress's life. Including pieces of the fabric that were dismembered from the original; pieces that were recycled or upcycled. Even a painting of the dress in question was given its own unambiguous ending!

#5Fs Review.

This will be the fifth film I have watched by Alex van Warmerdam and they have all been strange no doubt and they have all been good except for Little Tony which was ok but didnt compare to the others.

The first film I saw of his was Borgman several years ago and it has always stuck with me. Like all of his movies, different, strange, odd, surreal. The Dress is another somewhat surreal tale that follows a dress from its conception through the manufacturing process, and as it is worn by its various possessors. Most of those who came in contact with the dress came to some mischief. If Grimm would have been rated PG, then this one would probably have to be R, with a good bit of nudity, adult situations, and a certain creep factor. With these five films under my belt, I can definitely say I am a fan of the director's work. Quite an interesting filmmaker with a unique vision. I have several more of his films all queued up.