The Fourth Man is a 1983 Dutch film by Paul Verhoeven.
The plot concerns a bisexual novelist, Gerard Revé (Jeroen Krabbé), who visits the seaside city of Vlissingen to address the local literary society. He is soon taken in by the society's treasurer, Christine Halsslag (Renee Soutendijk), and the two begin an affair. However, Gerard has several bizarre visions that he realizes tie into Christine in some way, and he begins to suspect she has more sinister motives. Complicating matters is Christine's other boyfriend, Herman (Thom Hoffman), who Gerard develops his own obsession with.
Shares many overlapping characteristics with Verhoeven's later film, Basic Instinct, which the director considers a Spiritual Successor to The Fourth Man.
The Fourth Man includes examples of:
- The Adjectival Man: Either Gerard or Herman could be Christine's fourth victim, hence the title.
- Ambiguous Situation: Is Christine a murderess as Gerard insists, or were the deaths of her three husbands unfortunate accidents as Dr. De Vries tries to tell him? The film never gives us information which confirms or denies the conclusions reached by Gerard, which isn't exactly a stable person, and Herman's death is undoubtedly an accident that Christine isn't responsible for.
- Animal Motifs: Christine is heavily associated with spiders. The film's opening sequence shows a spider crawling over a crucifix while chasing flies, naturally because female spiders have a reputation for being Deadlier Than The Male.
- Bittersweet Ending: Gerard manages to escape Christine's clutches. But Herman dies and Christine isn't brought to justice, meaning she is free to approach another potential victim once Gerard is hospitalized.
- Creepy Souvenir: Christine's home movies with each of her previous husbands.
- Depraved Bisexual: Gerard is quickly established to have violent and antisocial impulses of his own, and he continues the affair with Christine only because he wants to get into Herman's pants.
- Eye Scream: Gerard's visions/nightmares frequently allude to this. Near the end, Herman is killed when a piece of rebar impales his head through the eye in a car accident.
- Femme Fatale: Gerard's visions gradually lead him to the conclusion that Christine murdered her previous three husbands.
- Groin Attack: Gerard has a nightmare about Christine castrating him with a pair of scissors.
- Karma Houdini: Christine is left free to draw in another victim at film's end.
- Male Frontal Nudity: Gerard's naughty bits are seen quite frequently, as are Herman's.
- Mind Screw: Gerard's visions, which involve a heavy deal of symbolism and sometimes seem to blend in with his waking reality as hallucinations.
