Character starts with a scene that makes no sense. A young man drives a knife into the desk of an older man, tells him that he's become a lawyer and walks away. Who is this kid? Why is he so pissed off? And who is the old guy and why does he just sit there so emotionlessly? Don't worry – you'll find out all of the answers because the film is told in flashback.
The young man is Katadreuffe (Van Huet). Arrested for the murder of the elder gent, Katadreuffe tells his life story to the Rotterdam cops. I have a feeling that in real life, the cops wouldn't so much want to hear about your whole life, but this is just pretend, so I digress.
Katadreuffe explains that the old guy is really his father, a powerful but super-frigid bailiff named Dreverhaven (Decleir). He was born out of a one-time affair between Dreverhaven and his equally stoney housekeeper, who decides to raise the baby on her own. Dreverhaven asks to marry her, but she moves out and even refuses his monthly offer of cash for over a year.
Raised in both squalor and total silence, young Katadreuffe is constantly bullied by the other children, who call his mother a whore. Whore is apparently the same in every language, a fact that makes me warm inside. Anyway, he turns to his only source of stress release and education, an English encyclopedia set (complete only through the letter "T") found hidden away under the stairs. You just know it won't be long before he starts yanking on his bootstraps.
After an unsuccessful venture as a cigar-store owner, Katadreuffe is forced into bankruptcy and, as a result, into the town law firm. He begins to clerk there and finds out that his debt is not owed to the bank, but to Dreverhaven. Thus sets the catalyst for the competition and eventual showdown between father and son.
Fedja Van Huet plays Katadreuffe with a touch of Rufus Sewell's wide-eyed Dark City gaze and a dash of Robert Downey, Jr's Chaplin. The Dreverhaven character is easily one of the most diabolical and menacing of recent memory. Even the name conjures images of Keyser Soyze's past.
Set in the early 20's, Character looks and feels like a cross between Metropolitan and The Hudsucker Proxy, presenting Rotterdam as the most abysmal place on earth (at least since The Winter Guest). It won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film and, get this – actually deserved it!
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