Fons Rademakers

Directing

Fons Rademakers

Born 1920-09-05 · Roosendaal, Netherlands

Alphonse Marie "Fons" Rademakers (5 September 1920 – 22 February 2007) was a Dutch actor, film director, film producer and screenwriter. His 1960 film Makkers Staakt uw Wild Geraas was entered into the 11th Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Silver Bear Award. During a career spanning several decades he directed 11 films, including The Assault, which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1986, and The Village on the River, nominated for the same award in 1959. Making him both the first Dutch director to be nominated and win this award. He granted a wide-ranging interview to Radio Netherlands in 1987. He died in 2007 in a Geneva hospital of emphysema, after the life-support machines were switched off at his request.

Acting credits

Mysteries poster
5.2

In the winter of 1891 a stranger arrives in a small coastal town on the Isle of Man. His presence soon disturbs the lives of the local inhabitants, especially the beautiful daughter of the parson.

Mysteries

1978

Daughters of Darkness poster
6.2

Ostend, Belgium. In a decadent seaside hotel, Stefan and Valerie, a newlywed couple, meet the mysterious Countess Báthory and Ilona, her secretary.

Daughters of Darkness

1971

The Enemies poster
5.6

In the freezing winter of 1944, the devastating Battle of the Bulge rages across Belgium. Amid the chaos, an American soldier separated from his unit crosses paths with Richard, a cynical young Belgian boy, and Willy, a wounded German soldier they take as a prisoner.Stranded in a desolate, snowy landscape where survival overrides military allegiance, the three mismatched individuals form a fragile, surreal bond. As they trudge through the war-torn countryside, their basic survival instincts push political ideologies aside.

The Enemies

1968

Katie Tippel poster
6.3

In the late 19th-century, the Tippel family moves to rural Stavoren in search of greener pastures. However, their dreams are quickly shattered, as teenage Katie is terrorized by a male-dominated society who only see her as an object. Her situation worsens when, following her father's sacking and her elder sister's descent into alcoholism, her mother decides that, rather than starving, Katie becomes a prostitute.

Katie Tippel

1975

Mira poster
5.3

The story of a small and conservative West-Flemish village opposing the construction of a bridge over the Scheldt.

Mira

1971

All Rebels poster
8.0

All Rebels paints a picture of the young people who congregated around Amsterdam’s Leidseplein square in the days before wider protest movements broke out in the late ’60s and the ’70s. They kicked against the powers that be through wild parties, jazz music, unconventional clothing, long hair, smoking marihuana, uninhibited dancing and free love.

All Rebels

1983

Obsessions poster
4.6

A young medical student observes his neighbour's love life through a hole in his apartment wall.

Obsessions

1969

Camera Sutra (or the Pale Faces) poster
10.0

The Herts Camera Sutra or The Palefaces (1973) is a militant and visually fragmented critique of Belgian bourgeois society, blending documentary collage with semi-autobiographical fiction. De Hert attacks the distractions of nationalism, religion, and popular culture while exposing capitalism, social injustice, and postcolonial exploitation. The film’s second half shifts to a disillusioned group of rebellious youths, revealing the uncertainty and emotional paralysis behind revolutionary ideals. Both politically fierce and deeply self-questioning, the film captures the tension between radical ambition and powerlessness.

Camera Sutra (or the Pale Faces)

1973

No artwork available
NR

In this episode, actress and theater director Elise Hoomans.

Markant: Elise Hoomans

1972

Vrijdag poster
4.8

Hugo Claus rewrote and directed Friday as the cinematic version of his original 1969 play of the same name. Just as in the play, the story begins with the theme of incest, as the father Georges (Frank Aendenboom) returns from serving his jail sentence for that crime. Unlike the earlier play, however, the film does not emphasize that aspect of the story. When Georges gets home he finds out that his wife Jeanne (Kitty Courbois) has had an illegitimate child by a younger man, Erik (Herbert Flack), and now both of them must somehow try to return to a normal life, given their only too obvious lapses in moral judgment. As the husband and wife try hard to accommodate each other's failings and start to get to know each other again, Erik comes back into the picture. Now the three of them must resolve the deep-seated conflicts that brought them to this emotionally-wrought juncture of love and betrayal.

Vrijdag

1981

Hollywood by Bike poster
7.0

Documentary that looks back at 35 years of Dutch cinema, with Paul Verhoeven and others.

Hollywood by Bike

1993

Lifespan poster
5.0

Cult icon Klaus Kinski features in this dark and intriguing existential thriller. He plays the mysterious "Swiss Man" - ruthless industrialist Nicolas Ulrich - who is obsessed with a search for the elixir of life. He tricks a young American scientist into joining him on his demonic quest. A quest that ends in suicide, death and madness. The story takes place in the atmospheric European city of Amsterdam. Its winding alleys and ancient canals trap the characters in a labyrinthine maze as they find themselves manipulated like figures on a giant chess board.

Lifespan

1975

Aah... Tamara poster
10.0

A student is working part-time on a canal boat in Amsterdam and a young director wants to make a film about her.

Aah... Tamara

1965

Gejaagd door de winst (of het A.B.C. van de moderne samenleving) poster
10.0

A three independent parts sci-fi drama. In the first, entitled The Bomb, a story of a garage mechanic is told who finds an atomic bomb by accident. The second part, entitled The Last Judgment, deals with the consequences of a military convoy carrying biological weapons going mad. In the third part, entitled Experts Of Evil, there is an accident at a chemical plant when a,pressurized container with dioxin explodes resulting in leakage.

Gejaagd door de winst (of het A.B.C. van de moderne samenleving)

1977

Behind the camera

Max Havelaar: or, The Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company poster
6.2

An idealistic Dutch colonial officer posted to Indonesia in the 19th century is cohvinced that he can make the kinds of changes that will actually help the local people he is in charge of, but circumstances soon make him realize just how out of touch he really is, and it doesn't take long for things to go from bad to worse.

Max Havelaar: or, The Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company

1976

Max Havelaar: or, The Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company poster
6.2

An idealistic Dutch colonial officer posted to Indonesia in the 19th century is cohvinced that he can make the kinds of changes that will actually help the local people he is in charge of, but circumstances soon make him realize just how out of touch he really is, and it doesn't take long for things to go from bad to worse.

Max Havelaar: or, The Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company

1976

Mira poster
5.3

The story of a small and conservative West-Flemish village opposing the construction of a bridge over the Scheldt.

Mira

1971

That Joyous Eve... poster
5.8

The story of three torn apart families on the verge of Sinterklaasavond, the Dutch equivalent of Christmas Eve.

That Joyous Eve...

1960

Because of the Cats poster
5.3

A gang of six wealthy, well-dressed and well-spoken hoodlums break into a married couple's house and rape the wife while forcing the husband to watch. Thus begins a dogged investigation by a determined detective who quickly finds that their cult-like solidarity can be a serious obstacle to breaking them.

Because of the Cats

1973

Because of the Cats poster
5.3

A gang of six wealthy, well-dressed and well-spoken hoodlums break into a married couple's house and rape the wife while forcing the husband to watch. Thus begins a dogged investigation by a determined detective who quickly finds that their cult-like solidarity can be a serious obstacle to breaking them.

Because of the Cats

1973

Because of the Cats poster
5.3

A gang of six wealthy, well-dressed and well-spoken hoodlums break into a married couple's house and rape the wife while forcing the husband to watch. Thus begins a dogged investigation by a determined detective who quickly finds that their cult-like solidarity can be a serious obstacle to breaking them.

Because of the Cats

1973

The Assault poster
6.8

At the end of WWII the Dutch resistance kills a German officer in front of the house of a Dutch family. Years after the war the young boy who witnessed the killing runs into the members of the resistance who committed the killing.

The Assault

1986

The Assault poster
6.8

At the end of WWII the Dutch resistance kills a German officer in front of the house of a Dutch family. Years after the war the young boy who witnessed the killing runs into the members of the resistance who committed the killing.

The Assault

1986

Like Two Drops of Water poster
6.4

The fainthearted cigar trader Ducker keeps himself quiet during World War II. That changes when parachutist Dorbeck lands in his backyard. It turns out the parachutist bears a remarkable resemblance to Ducker. Ducker follows Dorbeck blindly, becomes involved in the Dutch resistance and soon starts killing people. When he escapes through German lines to the freed South Netherlands, no one has ever heard of Dorbeck.

Like Two Drops of Water

1963

Like Two Drops of Water poster
6.4

The fainthearted cigar trader Ducker keeps himself quiet during World War II. That changes when parachutist Dorbeck lands in his backyard. It turns out the parachutist bears a remarkable resemblance to Ducker. Ducker follows Dorbeck blindly, becomes involved in the Dutch resistance and soon starts killing people. When he escapes through German lines to the freed South Netherlands, no one has ever heard of Dorbeck.

Like Two Drops of Water

1963

The Rose Garden poster
6.7

In Germany, an old man attacks another old man and is arrested. The attacker refuses to speak. A female lawyer is appointed to him. She discovers that the attacker has numbers tattooed on his arm and the attacked man was a German officer.

The Rose Garden

1989

Diary of a Mad Old Man poster
4.4

In this erotic drama, Marcel fantasizes about being with his daughter-in-law Simone after the death of his wife. The woman pretends to be surprised over his attention but does nothing to discourage his advances. He promises to build her a swimming pool in order to further his fantasies. The story is taken from the novel by Junichiro Tamizaki.

Diary of a Mad Old Man

1987

The Knife poster
5.6

A boy is resentful of his mother's budding romance with the best friend of her late husband, and is torn and confused about his emerging feelings for Toni, a young girl in his neighborhood. His fascination with an antique Oriental knife leads him to steal it and he uses it to try to impress Toni while at the same time trying to break up his mother's relationhip.

The Knife

1961

The Dance of the Heron poster
6.5

The rich and conservative Edward can not forgive his younger wife who had been unfaithful. She's trying to get his attention by flirting with a Dutch tourist.

The Dance of the Heron

1966

The Dance of the Heron poster
6.5

The rich and conservative Edward can not forgive his younger wife who had been unfaithful. She's trying to get his attention by flirting with a Dutch tourist.

The Dance of the Heron

1966

Village by the River poster
6.9

An independent-thinking doctor in a rural community with his own ideas of how medicine should be practiced begins to find himself ostracized from the community after one of his patients commits suicide.

Village by the River

1958

Village by the River poster
6.9

An independent-thinking doctor in a rural community with his own ideas of how medicine should be practiced begins to find himself ostracized from the community after one of his patients commits suicide.

Village by the River

1958

My Friend, or The Hidden Life of Jules Depraeter poster
4.6

Based on a notorious Belgian court case, My Friend, or The Hidden Life of Jules Depraeter follows Jules Depraeter, a charming but manipulative businessman from Ghent who becomes entangled in robbery, fraud and conspiracy. When police discover stolen jewels and securities in the trunk of a garage owner linked to him, a complex investigation unfolds. During the trial, Depraeter attempts to save himself by accusing a respected investigating judge of masterminding the crimes and plotting the murder of his own wife. Told through courtroom scenes and flashbacks, the film gradually reveals a web of lies, corruption and psychological manipulation.

My Friend, or The Hidden Life of Jules Depraeter

1979

My Friend, or The Hidden Life of Jules Depraeter poster
4.6

Based on a notorious Belgian court case, My Friend, or The Hidden Life of Jules Depraeter follows Jules Depraeter, a charming but manipulative businessman from Ghent who becomes entangled in robbery, fraud and conspiracy. When police discover stolen jewels and securities in the trunk of a garage owner linked to him, a complex investigation unfolds. During the trial, Depraeter attempts to save himself by accusing a respected investigating judge of masterminding the crimes and plotting the murder of his own wife. Told through courtroom scenes and flashbacks, the film gradually reveals a web of lies, corruption and psychological manipulation.

My Friend, or The Hidden Life of Jules Depraeter

1979

The Inheritance poster
10.0

An ageing GP tries to convince his son in law to take over his practice. Monique van de Ven plays the doctor's daughter, who is torn apart by love of her husband and solidarity with her father.

The Inheritance

1978