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"They finally met the girls of their dreams. Now what do they do?"
Summary:
Dutch Girls is a simple, harmless little made-for-TV movie on a common theme - adolescent boys exploring the first stirrings of sexuality. Unlike "Porky" style movies, however, this little charmer retains its sense of decorum throughout.
Colin Firth plays Neil Truelove, a seventeen-year-old schoolboy trembling on the brink of manhood who schemes his way into his boarding school's hockey trip to Holland by weighing down his hockey stick with lead. Once he arrives, he is immediately exposed to the great 'mystery of life' - women. Neil meets a Dutch girl, Romelia, at hockey practice, and goes through all the variations of awkward phases as he starts to grow up. He encounters her again at a local discotheque, and they have a charming - and entirely innocent - evening together, in which Neil doesn't even have the nous to get a goodnight kiss, for which he rebukes himself severely.
He exhibits extreme repression brought on by his sheltered upbringing, and the tendency of public school (apparently) to squash independent thought or the spirit of adventure. He tries to be nonchalant - "fancy a dance?"- but can't quite pull it off. He does learn, eventually, to appreciate the independent spirit of Lyndon Baines, although this character at first sight is hardly a good advertisement for freedom of thought and action, with his gross vulgarity and unthinking behaviour.
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Colin about the danger of getting typecast as "public schoolboy" after his success in Another Country:
I was given the sort of English public schoolboy stamp. It got me my first and second and third jobs. Very high-profile stuff. I was delighted to get them, and then there comes a point when you think 'but I can't keep doing this.'
I'm not that - I'm not a public schoolboy, you know. I went to secondary school. I went to the worst type of English schools, and, uh, I didn't talk this way as a schoolboy - I spoke with my regional dialect.
It's not what interests me ultimately. I didn't want to spend my entire life telling the stories of various English, privileged men - it's not me. [Attitude, April 1997]
In what way can Colin relate to Truelove?
I was at a boys' school most of my life for a start. I just didn't know any women through most of my teens. Later it was hard to relate to women. I was afraid of them. I thought they were another species at first. I thought there had to be a completely different approach with talking to a woman.
I was very envious of the boys at school that did know girls of our own age and seemed to be able to talk with them without spluttering. I watched this incredible confidence from some of the others and uh, would imitate them and would end up sounding petulant and ridiculous and not impressing anybody.
Then I was probably ludicrously polite and gentlemanly for a while. Which I think didn't go badly but it certainly was a while before I realised women was just human beings. [Attitude, April 1997]
Thanks to the Colin Firth Career Timeline
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(Movie)
Directed by:
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| Giles Foster
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Writing credits (in alphabetical order):
| William Boyd
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Full credits here
Runtime: USA:83 min
Country: UK
Language: English
Color: Color
Certification: USA:R
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted: under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian)
Posters
Production Company/Company Credits
Trivia:
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| Producer Sue Birtwistle remained friends with Colin, and later cast him in his most famous role as Darcy in Pride and Prejudice
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| Though he plays a 17 year old, Colin was in fact about 24 when he took on the role of Neil Truelove.
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| Timothy Spall, who plays the vile Lyndon (extremely well), must have been 28 or 29 playing 17!
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| \Adrian Lukis, who plays another schoolboy, went on to play Darcy's nemesis Mr Wickham in Pride and Prejudice.
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| Colin was apparently specialising in wounded and delicate young men at that time - or that was how he tended to be typecast, back in the days when he was still considered beautiful. In the same year, he had appeared on stage in London in Schnitzler's The Lonely Road as Felix, the son of Antony Hopkins' character. The Sunday Times (10 Feb 1985) notes that his performance "stands out with nervy, febrile dignity". Plays & Players describes him as "that rarity, a young actor who can be convincingly middle-class without sounding like a Hooray Henry".
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| Wiiliam Boyd, who wrote the screenplay, is the author of A Good Man in Africa.
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Cst:
Bill Paterson
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| Mole
| Colin Firth
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| Neil Truelove
| Timothy Spall
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| Lyndon
| John Wells
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| The Headmaster
| Robert Addie
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| Cone
| Christopher Beaumont
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| Thornton
| Anna Bergman
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| Prostitute #1
| Anne-Wil Blankers
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| Mrs. Van Der Merwe
| Daniel Chatto
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| Fforde
| Catherine Chevalier
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| French Girl
| Gusta Gerritsen
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| Romelia
| Alex Lowe
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| Disc Jockey
| Adrian Lukis
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| Murray
| Guy Manning
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| Lamb
| Colin McFarlane
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| MacGregor
| Ian Michie
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| Mr. Van Der Merwe
| Sylvia Millecam
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| Greetje
| Mitzi Mueller
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| 2nd Prostitute
| David Neville
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| Boy with Bell
| Michael Parkhouse
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| Roote
| Erik Plooyer
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| Kees Van Der Merwe
| Richard Torn
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| Mr. Ashbee
| Jeffrey Vanderbyl
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| Guitarist
| Octavia Verdin
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| French Girl (as Octavia Taten)
| Stephanie Verwijmeren
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| Anna Van Der Merwe
| James Wilby
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| Dundine
| Hywel Williams-Ellis
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| Mkwela
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Some information courtesy of The Internet Movie Database.
Also with thanks to the Colin Firth Career Timeline
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