Everyone loves Rutger, but Monique van de Ven is great too!!!

I fell in love with her as Olga. I really did, and that happens very rarely with me...Anna Karina aside ;). But what was REALLY special about Monique was that I was able to feel both lust AND love for her character. How often does THAT happen? Not very often...it's usually one or the other.

This film is really something special, particularly in the scenes between the two lovers. In fact, I've never seen a film that celebrates sexuality the way this film does. Maybe The Last Tango in Paris, but that film was driven by sadness, this one is driven by ecstasy.

Monique van de Ven's performance should really be studied by young actresses who THINK they have "sex appeal". She blows most of them out of the water. Can you imagine Jessica Alba playing this part? I can't either, and not just because of the nudity, but because of the character's believable emotions. Alba is a lifeless mannequin next to Monique.

Finally, a word about Paul Verhoeven...is this guy an unheralded genius or what?! I just saw Zwartboek and THAT blew me away, but this film clinched it...Verhoeven deserves a higher profile. Take a look at Robocop again, people. Hell, take a look at Starship Troopers again! You'll find these are big-budget Hollywood "action-adventures" that do EVERYTHING a film of their kind SHOULD do. He makes it look so easy that it becomes tempting to write off Robocop as "just a standard violent action movie", but it's SO MUCH MORE THAN THAT. Just watch Robocop 2 or the unwatchable Robocop 3 to see just how amazing a feat Verhoeven pulled off with that film. In my book, he deserves to stand beside David Cronenberg and Philip Kaufman as one of the few auteurs who managed to (gloriously) instill his sensibilities in a "mainstream" project...in Cronenberg's case, the better-than-the-original The Fly; in Kaufmann's case The Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Nearly all of Verhoeven's films (minus his work with Joe Eszterhaus...a true Hollywood hack) are competantly made, HIGHLY entertaining films that often feature provocative concepts and social commentary. He's one of the few working artists who knows how to thrill audiences while also making them ponder fascinating (and often taboo) ideas. He's a provocateur of the highest order, and Turks Fruit is as shining a beacon of that mission as anything he's done.

All hail Paul Verhoeven and the LOVELY Monique van de Ven!!!