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Morlang might not be the Dutch word for vertigo, but one has to wonder how Hitchcock might have handled this twisted but ultimately contrived psychological thriller. (Director Tjebbo Penning may have wondered too, but he never quite figured it out). In fact, Morlang (Paul Freeman) is one of the most respected painters in the Netherlands (his canvases are like Francis Bacon by way of Norman Rockwell, an indication of how much Dutch art has declined since Van Gogh). But he’s getting older, and his appeal has faded before that of Robert Jensen (Marcel Faber), a hot-shot newcomer who does trendy stuff like ride a trapeze at his openings and make statues of naked women stuck with arrows. Morlang’s wife, Ellen (Diana Kent), likes Jensen too, and when she poses nude for him, Morlang packs off and leaves for Ireland. There he meets Ann (Susan Lynch), a younger version of Ellen, who meanwhile has conveniently succumbed to cancer. Two years of romping in the peat bogs and daubing masterpieces later, Morlang is starting to get phone messages and mail from Ellen. How distressing that must be is communicated by lots of trick shots (my favorite is that from the point of view of a golf ball about to be struck), strobe-like editing, flashbacks and flashbacks within flashbacks, weird music and sound effects, and extreme close-ups of dilating pupils. It’s enough to give you vertigo, which is as close as Morlang gets to Hitchcock’s movie. (94 minutes)
BY PETER KEOUGH
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