Character

Character (Karakter, 1997), Mike van Diem's Oscar-winning Dutch drama, is available to watch online on iFILM. Set in pre-WWII Netherlands, it opens with a murder charge: Jacob Katadreuffe stands accused of killing his own father, and the rest of the film is his account of a lifetime that explains why.

Jacob is the illegitimate son of Dreverhaven, an iron-fisted bailiff played by Jan Decleir, who rejected his mother so coldly that she shaped her entire life around that contempt. Jacob inherits the old man's stubbornness but channels it differently — he claws his way through law school while Dreverhaven quietly blocks him at every turn. Fedja van Huêt carries the role with a tight, controlled fury that rarely breaks the surface.

What makes the film uncomfortable is that Dreverhaven is never exactly a villain. He just doesn't bend. Stream Character (1997) online on iFILM.