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Derek
de Lint as "Alex Witsen"
Director Roeland Kerbosch
Country - UK/Netherlands
Production Company - Sigma Film
Language - English
Cast:
Derek de Lint - "Alex
Witsen"
Lysette Anthony - "Lisa Parks/Lucy"
Bill Sage - "Mickey"
Ann Hasekamp - "Aunt Caroline"
Valerie Valentine - "Julia"
Boudewijn de Groot - "Simon West"
Sieto Hoving - "Maurice"
William Sutton
- "Koning"
Jeanne Wikler - "Jenny"
Carel Alphenaar - "Dr. Hulst"
David Palffy - "David"
Martijn Nieuwerf - "Alex Witsen", 20 (dubbed with Derek de Lint's
voice?)
Hans Somers - "Simon West", 20
Rodney Beddall - "waiter"
Marius Monkau - "Andrew"
Lesly Gray - "singer"
Mary Moher - "Mom"
Ray Goodsir - "Dad"
Crew:
Writer - Bastiaan
Gieben
Producer - Matthijs van Heijningen
Script - Roeland Kerbosch, Bastiaan Gieben
Sound - Ludo Keeris
Camera - Nils Post
Art Director. - Ben van Os, Constance de Vos
Editing - Ewout Hendriksen
Music - Laurens van Rooyen
Cinematography - Nils Post
Premiered: May 25 1995
A thriller about
obsessive jealousy and manipulation - a wealthy Amsterdam diamond
merchant has a stormy romance and marries the double of a former lover
who had died through his action. Their fragile marital bliss is soon overshadowed
by the morbid jealousy of the traumatised diamond merchant, who sees a
potential rival in every man. To heal himself and save his relationship,
he finally asks an attractive golfer to seduce his wife for money. However
when he finds the couple in each others arms, he realizes he has made
a big mistake. Then the woman makes a discovery that throws a completely
different light on the diamond merchant's past.
The following is
a 5/24/95 not-so-rave film review by Huib Stam, translated by Richard
van Bilsen & edited by me:
Main character
is Alex Witsen, played with style by Derek de Lint, who is a very wealthy
but lonely diamond-trader with a preference for erotic art. He meets an
indifferent American, Lisa (Lysette Anthony) who looks just like his childhood
sweetheart who died by Alex' fault. They get married shortly after but
then the trouble begins. The past is creeping up on them. Next to that,
Alex is incredibly jealous. He develops a jealousy-as-self-torture therapy
for himself. He hires the good-looking professional golfer, Mickey (played
by Hal Hartley-actor Bill Sage) to seduce Lisa. With his binoculars he
watches from across the street. When Lisa withstands Mickey, then he will
know for sure that she is faithful. Then he is suprised by facts and feelings.
The lovestory is then like a puzzle. The title ( AfFair Play ) is a play
upon words, so it can both mean a "relation game" and a "honest
game." To understand the whole construction of the story, written
by Kerbosch and Bastiaan Gieben based on an idea by Dimitri Frenkel Frank,
requires some calculating. The whole setup of the movie is calculated.
Every movie is, of course, the result of the calculation of the producer,
but that is not always that obvious. More or less famous actors, the atmosphere
of wealth, fancy locations in Amsterdam, sufficient nudity, handsome cars,
international characters and an up-to-date storyline: That is how the
director and the producer, clearly aimed at an international distribution,
compiled the movie. The movie itself isn't that bad but Kerbosch is not
a great director. A lot of shots are obligatory and superficially filmed.
On the whole, the movie lacks dynamics, which can be lethal for a thriller.
That can also be the fault of a bit of an illogical plot. De Lint has
his good moments and Lysette Anthony Lisa plays with insight.
AfFair
Play (Dutch)
De
Filmkrant's page for Affair Play (Dutch)
Filmarchief's
page for AfFair Play (Dutch)
Thanks to Derek's
fellow Dutchman, Richard van Bilsen, again for research and translations.
Added link to video Sept 2000.
Credits: movieline.de, IMDb, Nethlandfilm.nl
Translations: InterTran™ (this page) and Bill van Voorthuysen for the article.
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