The acting and the pacing help this movie rise above the underlying script, a hackneyed, contrived story of the search for a serial killer. It has all the usual elements? Do we have a methodical, team oriented policeman in conflict with an intuitive cop with no impulse control? Yes. Do we have a list of stereotyped suspects that fit the bill perfectly? Yes, including (!!!) a psychiatric patient with a pet claw hammer.
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Minnesota_Reid24 April 2018
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myriamlenys4 September 2018The police discovers a spot where several decapitated corpses were buried. Once the deceased were women of all ages and all walks of life. While detectives try to make sense of the discovery, a panicked citizen warns authorities that he saw yet another dead woman. However, the second crime scene (if it is indeed a crime scene) does not contain a dead woman, but a living one, in the person of a minor celebrity known for her critical opinions and interviews. Half-naked and confused, she might just as well have fled a particularly wild party...
"Het tweede gelaat" is long on style, atmosphere, gore, violence and sex. Sadly it is short on credibility, logic and coherence. I found at least one major flaw which blows the whole plot out of the water ; doubtlessly other viewers will have identified other inconsistencies and shortcomings. In the movie, detectives suppose that the killer is a person who spent some time in Germany, during time period X, and some time in Belgium, during time period Y. In accordance with this hunch, they draw up a list of possible suspects, which turns out to be very short (let's say a good dozen of persons.) However, both Germany and Belgium are densely populated ; they're also friendly neighbouring countries, very much open to the world, which maintain close cultural, economic and commercial relations.
As a result, compiling a more or less reliable list might take weeks, if not months ; and the result might very well consist of hundreds upon hundreds of people. So no, the detectives would not end up with just a few handfuls of suspects ; in real life, they would have to list, trace and investigate a varied and diverse multitude including soldiers, traders, gypsies, stand-up comedians, priests, footballers, dog breeders, diplomats, opera singers, rent boys, bankers, prisoners, patients, nature lovers, exchange students, professors, TV chefs, migrants and political refugees. Good luck fitting THAT into ninety minutes.
Besides, what's with this current arms race with regard to crime and shock ? Why do we need a serial killer, multiple victims, mutilated corpses ? A really competent thriller could tell a suspenseful and gripping story even about a single crime.
You, dear reader, will have guessed that this review is not going to end in a glowing recommendation. If you do watch the movie, watch it for the well-executed action scenes and pursuits near the end. Or watch it for the architecture and interior design : "Het tweede gelaat" contains many a shot of a Belgian building. Some of the buildings are beautiful or interesting ; other are so hideous that they might scare off the Abominable Snowman. Well, that's Belgium for you... -
"Double Face" is the third, and presumably final, adaptation of a crime/thriller novel by the Belgian author Jef Geeraerts and revolving around the Antwerp police duo - and best buddies - Vincke and Verstuyft. The first one, "De Zaak Alzheimer" (aka "Memory of a Killer") got released in 2003 and was quite an international success, thanks to the surefooted direction of Erik Van Looy and the reasonably simple fact that people weren't used to seeing such type of violent and spectacular thrillers coming from Flanders. The follow-up in 2009, "Dossier K.", was already a lot less popular even though very exhilarating as well, and the replacement director Jan Verheyen also being a skilled professional. The release and reception of this "Double Face" went largely unnoticed in 2017, and the film itself barely surpasses the level of mediocrity as well.
I read a few books by Jef Geeraerts when I was younger, including "Double Face", and they feature a lot of perverse sex and extreme violence. This film also isn't for overly sensitive viewers, I'd say, as my wife suffered from some nightmares about human heads on poles and nasty car crashes. You can either take that as a warning, or as a recommendation! In a meadow near Antwerp, the headless and naked corpses of six woman are discovered, and another girl is narrowly rescued when she's found wandering half-naked, drugged, and very confused in a little village 20 kilometers further. Chief commissioner Vincke doesn't think the cases are related, but his impulsive assistant Verstuyft is convinced the girl was meant to become the killer's next victim if he hadn't been interrupted. While Vincke seeks the help of a Dutch and acclaimed Interpol profiler to find out more about the serial killer, Verstuyft digs into the life of the girl and - of course - falls madly in love with her.
Although director Jan Verheyen and scriptwriter Carl Joos try very hard to constantly mislead the audiences with red herrings, false leads and new clues, the film has severe difficulties to keep the audience alert and interested. There's a list of reasons for this. The plot features too many dreadful clichés, for starters. The impulsive and unorthodox cop rebels against the profiling methods, the cop sleeps with an important witness in the case, the friendship between the life-long partners is pressurized, etc. The best actors, including Belgium's finest Koen De Bouw, are also reduced to supportive characters. Commissioner Vincke's role barely exists of more than blindly following what the Interpol profile suggests and unsuccessfully forcing his buddy Verstuyft to obey. The rest of the police team, all good actors and actresses, are just glorified extras. The (eventual) climax is unpredictable, I'll admit that, but also very unsatisfying. Call me crazy, but I still think that every killer - even deranged serial killers - need to have some sort of motive or plausible background story, especially the extreme ones that chop off heads and store them in freezers. Here, there isn't any sort of clarification whatsoever. -
I loved DOSSIER K, ten years ago, from the same director and starring the same leads too. It was a bleak, dark, story about Albanese mafia. This one is one more serial killer scheme, as dozens of millions stories written for movie and TV industries. Not my basic cup of tea, but some of them are awesome, riveting, poignant, and above all, unusual, providing great surprises. This one is not worst than other ones, and at least better than most American that I have seen; and I admit that there were not batches of them. I repeat, I don't crave for serial killers. From Belgian, I could expect something gruesome and of course awesome in the same time. I remember WASTE LAND and THE BEAST several years ago, from Belgian too. Not for the squeamish and the whole family at supper time.....This one is a bit smoother, compared to the two previous movies, and closer to the German's LAND OF MURDERS ; itself the remake of the Spanish LA ISLA MINIMA.... But, I repeat, I am not a specialist of this kind of movie. Maybe I am wrong.
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kosmasp1 July 2018Some things are easy to see through and I would say, if you've seen a couple of thrillers, you won't have any issues seeing where this is heading. Still the characters are interesting and you can mostly understand their motivation and also can relate in general.
That is until the very end, where it all blows up. Well at least a little bit. Depending on your views of how it ties things together at the end and especially how it resolves them, you may have a problem with the movie. If not, you will be enjoying a crime drama, that is predictable but still has class and good actors in it. -
krissa758 December 2017Back in 1990 Jef Geeraerts wrote a book called Double-Face. I love that book. Jef died in 2015. I'm almost glad he never got to see how his excellent book about a serial-killer got butchered as badly as the victims in it.
This is the third outing of Koen De Bouw and Werner De Smedt as Vincke and Verstuyft and both are quite comfortable in their roles with especially De Smedt giving an excellent performance.
And that's where the good news ends: the female lead Sofie Hoflack gives one of the flattest performances of the year, there's no emotion, no depth, nothing. She seems to only have been cast for her willingness to do most of her scenes nude or partly nude. The sharp contrast with De Smedt, with whom she shares the majority of her scenes, is disconcerting.
The director, Jan Verheyen, knows his trade, he directed the previous one "Dossier K" as well, yet overdoes the aerial shots and fast cuts in such a way that it quickly becomes irritating. It is unfortunately also clear he wanted to emulate the American Way of making thrillers which simply doesn't fit a Belgian story. (There's a shoot-out near the end of the movie to illustrate that point perfectly).
The main problem however is the script. In the original book the killer is caught almost by accident and the remainder of the book narrates the chilling interviews Vincke and Verstuyft have with the killer who suffers from paranoia and schizophrenia. It was meticulously researched by Geeraerts who even spend time at Quantico.
This script however threw all of that overboard for a messy whodunit which will have you screaming in frustration at the reveal as nothing makes sense: all the clues, all the twists, false leads and suspects are rendered useless by a ridiculous plot twist which disregards all the information we knew about the killer up to that point, there's no motive and no clear idea behind any of it. It is, by far, one of the worst plot-twists I've seen in the last couple of years with the sole purpose of having a "shocking" twist and not bothering to make a small bit of sense. Even the actions of De Smedts character after he finds out who the killer is are only there to go into an action scene with, again, a bunch of aerial shots and fast cuts. It is a complete mess of a story that puts the whole movie beyond saving.
Don't bother with this one. Rewatch De Zaak Alzheimer/Memory of a killer which is in every way a superior movie. -
timvandenbranden966 November 2017This movie is one of the better Belgian crime movies I've seen so far. In the beginning the movie has its flaws with some unclear scenes or stereotypes, but the more you get involved in the murder case, the more clear it becomes how excellent the cinematography fits with some exciting action scenes. Towards the climax of the movie there are some very well directed action scenes and the movies becomes more tensive and the story as well proves to be more ingenious.
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mrdonleone15 March 2022Another example of how bad the Belgian movie industry has turned out to be these last years, especially then these detective movies are starting to be all the same. In the old days they wouldn't dare to call it a film, they would just call it an episode in the German crime series on TV. Really: why would anybody give points to this piece of junk? It is not worthy to be taking your time of life. Fits Verheyen's very own "Night of the Disgust" rather well. This flick proves that anybody can make a movie nowadays, no matter who they are or how the end product will turn out to be. Thumbs way low below the lowest of the low.
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pietclausen26 March 2018I watched this movie without subtitles in its original language given as Dutch. Being able to speak Dutch I had great difficulty in understanding what was actually being said, only to discover it was a mixture of Dutch and a Flemish dialect which I couldn't understand.
This spoilt the movie to a great extent but I pressed on watching. It is a slow paced thriller, with lots of dialogue. It has a number of twists but the movie is much too long. In the end it reached a conclusion with a bit of action which probably saved the movie from failure.
Make sure that you watch it with subtitles, which is bothersome to read but would make the film more understandable. I was robbed of this but would not want to see it again with subtitles. It is no more than an average movie at best. -
"Control" is a much better title than "Het Tweede Gelaat," which translates as "Double Face." The film is a police procedural / psychological thriller / bromance. Commanding officer Vincke is a bit of a control freak, while Chief Inspector Verstuyft goes by his instincts. Rina keeps her patients under control with psychoactive drugs, but is out of control personally. Various VIPs attempt to control the investigation. The investigating judge is frustrated in her attempts to control Verstuyft, as is Vincke.
It's a well-made film with a Byzantine plot, plenty of red herrings, credible performances, three-dimensional characters, solid production values, a good chase scene, an effective climax and poetic justice for the villain. -
oretaud18 June 2018Otherwise... you can appreciate the drone's view from the Bruxelle's cathedral
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svenheylen1 September 2018Actors don't know their characters anymore. Professor T and Vincke are mixed up