Overview
A writer's dark desires lead him into a web of seduction and death.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Graphic
- surreal
- erotically charged
- paranoid
- late night cinephile viewing
- arthouse thriller night
What critics said
Critics broadly praised the film as a confident, erotically charged, visually intricate thriller that keeps fantasy and reality provocatively unstable.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Gerard's visions, nightmares, and suspicions about Christine are presented with psychological force while the film withholds a definitive explanation.
Spiders, death visions, film reels, and religious imagery recur throughout Gerard's experience of desire and dread.
Gerard's desire for Herman draws him deeper into Christine's history of dead husbands and the possibility of becoming the fourth.
Gerard's morbid Catholic background informs his visions of death and his fear that obsessive desire carries supernatural consequences.
Films like The 4th Man, and why
The Innocents
erotic noir atmosphere, ambiguous supernatural menace, and psychologically unstable protagonists
Basic Instinct
stylized erotic thriller tension, obsessive desire, and uncertainty between fantasy and reality
Possession
surreal imagery, sexual obsession, and paranoia-driven ambiguity
In the Cut
psychological thriller structure, dreamlike symbolism, and noir-inflected erotic danger
Movie Details
- Director
- Paul Verhoeven
- Release Date
- 1983-03-23
- Runtime
- 98 min
- Rating
- 6.7 / 10 (199)
Cast
- Jeroen Krabbé
- Renée Soutendijk
- Thom Hoffman
- Dolf de Vries
- Geert de Jong
- Hans Veerman
- Hero Muller
- Caroline de Beus
- Reinout Bussemaker
- Erik J. Meijer
Common questions
- What is The 4th Man about?
- A bisexual Dutch writer's erotic pursuit of a handsome stranger turns into a surreal investigation of a widow's deadly marital history.
- What is The 4th Man like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The 4th Man as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is The 4th Man violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in The 4th Man as graphic.
- What did critics think of The 4th Man?
- Critics broadly praised the film as a confident, erotically charged, visually intricate thriller that keeps fantasy and reality provocatively unstable.
- Which films are like The 4th Man?
- Films with a similar feel include The Innocents, Basic Instinct, Possession, and In the Cut.
- How long is The 4th Man?
- The 4th Man runs 98 minutes.
