Wat zien ik

I would like to say that I stay baffled to verify that this conspicuous and daring picture had so low grade at IMDB, this early Paul Verhoeven is too dazzling, he dives in underground world of the famous whoredom area at Amsterdam called Red Light district, where two prostitutes living in the same building offering valuable services to the hungry society of excludes men, all kind of requests are prompt and fully satisfied, the main character Blonde Greet (the sexy Ronnie Bierman) is a bit coarse, but has a golden heart, her friend Nell Muller (Sylvia de Leur) has tons of all sort of matters with her pimp, also Greet has been developing a romance with her customer, a married business man who have full interplay, Verhoeven shows us without be appealing their grief and rarely moments of happiness, mostly their disappointments, the skillful young director already exposes in a small portion your undeniable gift, a must to see!!!

Resume:

First watch: 2020 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.5

Paul Verhoeven's first feature film after directing the legendary tv-series Floris. Although Verhoeven himself thinks not very highly of his first feature length film, some themes are in fact typical of his work: fear of death and sexuality with a glimpse the social context (e.g. Amsterdam early seventies). Wat Zien Ik also shows us the typical editing technique Paul Verhoeven sometimes uses to hide the lack of story: editing based on speed. In later films this kind of editing proved te be efficient but in this case it's like a bad make up job. Not his best movie...

The titles already gives something away:(in the dialect from Amsterdam). This is the REAL story about the life of prostitutes in the famous red light district of Amsterdam in the sixties. Based on the book with the same title, it tells about the drama's happening in the life of prostitutes (like the trouble with pimps) and the fun with strange customers... The actors are mainly chosen from commediants and those who have experience in Amsterdam Music Theater, which enables them to give a humorous view on the not to happy lives of prostitutes and using the real accent that people of Amsterdam speak it makes you feel like living next door, able to watch the customers come in and go out every day.

This is possibly the most accurate film made about the sex industry ever and I ought to know. If you've ever worked in the industry you'll laugh till you cry.

"Wat Zien Ik" was recently released in Brazil on DVD by a minor distributor as part of a "Trash Collection". I have seen all the movies of Paul Verhoeven since "Turk Fruits", with the exception of "Spetters" , "Voorbij, Voorbij" and "The Hitchhiker", which were not released in Brazil, therefore I decided to buy this DVD. This low budget movie is a comedy about the daily lives of two whores in Red Light District of Amsterdam, and has some funny moments, specially with the weird and bizarre fantasies of their costumers. Ronnie Bierman has a great performance in the role of a kind hearted prostitute, and although original (at least for people from other cultures), the story is also forgettable and only works to satisfy the curiosity about the first films of Paul Verhoeven. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Negócio é Negócio" ("Business is Business")