Mysteries

Director: Paul de Lussanet

1978 / 97min / DCP

A little-seen adaptation of Norwegian author Knut Hamsun’s 1892 novel of the same name, Mysteries stars a magnificently scornful Rutger Hauer as a scoundrelly antihero newly arrived at a seaside village on the Isle of Man, where he pursues affairs with two women (Kristel and Rita Tushingham), keeps company with a dwarf (David Rappaport) who serves as the local whipping boy, and generally makes himself a thorn in the side of the local establishment. As if Hauer and Kristel, two of the finest faces in Dutch cinema, weren’t appealing enough, you have cinematographer Robby Müller operating at peak powers, lending the proceedings a maximum of fog-shrouded, dreamy, soft-edged loveliness.