Black Book - 2006

"We will kill that girl! However, wherever, whenever."

Based on true events, this epic drama from writer-director Paul Verhoeven stars Carice van Houten as Rachel Stein, a beautiful Jewish woman who averts Nazi capture, then assumes a new Aryan identity and joins the Dutch resistance movement. A local leader persuades her to seduce a Nazi commander and take down the enemy from within. But leading a double life takes its toll -- especially when both sides turn against her.

Director Paul Verhoeven and screenwriter Gerard Soeteman got the idea for the movie while doing research for Soldaat van Oranje (1977). Instead of simply working the controversies surrounding the Dutch Resistance into the already top-heavy screenplay of Soldaat van Oranje, they decided to make a separate movie out of it. Verhoeven and Soeteman wrote the screenplay over a period of almost 20 years, and they finally solved many script problems by making the main character a woman.

With a budget of approx. 16 million euros, this is the most expensive Dutch movie to date.