THE DUTCHMAN

THE DUTCHMAN

A Black businessman caught in a dangerous erotic game with a mysterious white woman

Clay is in a downward spiral. He can’t cope with his wife’s infidelity, the routine of his corporate job is grinding him down, and he struggles constantly with questions of identity. As he puts it himself, he feels “too black for white people and too white for black people.” We meet him on the couch of a marriage therapist, once again choosing to bottle up his emotions. The therapist offers him a suggestion: read the 1964 play “The Dutchman,” find himself in its pages, and search for answers to his questions. Clay dismisses the idea with a half-smile — he’s already running late for his next meeting.

On the New York subway, Clay meets Lula: tall, striking, red-haired, and full of dangerous confidence. What follows is a fast, dizzying descent into hell — one that makes Michael Douglas’s troubles in “Fatal Attraction” look like chewing bubblegum at grandma’s house during summer vacation.

“The Dutchman” is a grim, claustrophobic psychological thriller where the tension builds like a subway train hurtling between stations. The characters make unexpected, unsettling choices, and beyond Lula — the psychopathic femme fatale in a tight dress — Clay himself becomes the architect of his downfall, unable to change the course of his life.

The film stars the brilliant André Holland (“Moonlight”) and Kate Mara (“House of Cards”). “The Dutchman” is a new screen adaptation of the celebrated play of the same name. The first film version premiered in 1967, starring Al Freeman Jr. and Shirley Knight. Like the original play and its earlier adaptation, this new version is a searing allegory of racial tension. One of the most striking realizations after watching is how painfully relevant “The Dutchman” remains — more than sixty years after its debut.