it is unclear in Total Recall [a 1990 film by Verhoeven] whether we are meant to be watching a straight-faced action film, or a deliberately excessive send-up of action film clichés, The Fourth Man can be seen on both levels. It works better as a comedy however." Pinsky concludes, "it is a psychosexual thriller that often undermines its own narrative authority. Verhoeven gives us plenty of hints that we should not take things too seriously, particularly through Gerard's erratic behavior: his childish lust for Herman, his desperately facile attempt to fake psychic powers in order to trick Christine, and his increasingly baroque hallucinations. Everything in Gerard's world becomes steeped in irony." After writing this, Pinsky adds, "Verhoeven is quite clear up front that the movie is meant to be a joke and that Christine's guilt is deliberately ambiguous ... If you do not take it seriously, you will likely get a kick out of this film." Accolades The Fourth Man earned the 1983 International Critics' Award at the Toronto International Film Festival and was nominated for the 1983 Gold Hugo for Best Feature Award at the Chicago International Film Festival. Verhoeven opened the Seattle International Film Festival with his film, which garnered the 1984 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Foreign Language Film as well as the best New York reviews of any Verhoeven movie. The film was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film of 1984 by the U.S. National Board of Review of Motion Pictures. Also in 1984, the Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival gave Verhoeven its Special Jury Award. Home media Image Entertainment released a Laserdisc into the US market in 1984 (LDDB Entry). Anchor Bay Entertainment released a DVD edition of the film in May 2001. Legacy The Fourth Man ranked #93 in Empire magazines "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema" in 2010. Sequels Loosely remade as Verhoeven's fourth Hollywood movie, Basic Instinct, of which Verhoeven considers The 4th Man to be a spiritual prequel. See also Isha katlanit, a rule in rabbinic literature (the Talmud) against marrying a woman who has been widowed twice or more. List of submissions to the 56th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film List of Dutch submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film Apophenia References Sources External links 1983 films 1983 LGBT-related films 1983 thriller films 1980s Dutch-language films 1980s erotic thriller films 1980s psychological