Paul Verhoeven

• Dutch director, born in Amsterdam in 1938.

  After his military service carried out in the Navy’s audiovisual division, Paul Verhoeven directed several films including the striking Turks fruit [Turkish Delight] (1973). He then settled in Hollywood thanks to the support of Steven Spielberg, where he filmed his first works of science fiction: RoboCop (1987) and Total Recall (1990), as well as the thriller Basic Instinct (1992) that launched Sharon Stone’s career. Verhoeven’s films continually explore sex, religion, and violence with a provocative style. In 1995, Showgirls, a bitingly critical look at Hollywood, was poorly received. It achieved cult film status much later thanks to Rivette and Tarantino. Verhoeven came back successfully to science fiction with Starship Troopers (1997) before returning to the Netherlands to film Zwartboek [Black Book] (2006). In 2016, his first French film Elle, starring Isabelle Huppert, was selected for the Official Competition at Cannes.

• Business is Business (Wat zien ik ?) (1971) – Turkish Delight (Turks Fruit) (1973) – Katie Tippel (Keetje Tippel) (1975) – Soldier of Orange (Soldaat van Oranje) (1977) – Spetters (1980) – The Fourth Man (De Vierde Man) (1983) – Flesh and Blood (1985) –RoboCop (1987) – Total Recall (1990) –Basic Instinct (1992) – Showgirls (1995) – Starship Troopers (1997) – Hollow Man (2000) – Black Book (Zwartboek) (2006) – Tricked (Steekspel) (2012) – Elle (2016) – Benedetta (2019)