Download (03/2014)

SM RICHTER
Erotic drama, FSK 18
88 min, Belgium
DVD release: 25. April 2014
CREW
Director & screenplay:
Producer:
Line producer:
Production company:
Cinematographer:
Sound:
Editing:
Production designer:
Music:
Casting:
Make up:
Stylisme:
Erik Lamens
Bert Hamelinck, Kato Maes, Frank Van Passel
Saskia Verboven
Caviar Films
Stijn Van der Veken
Jan Deca
Ewin Ryckaert
Bart Van Loo
Ivan Georgiev
Sara De Vries
Ingeborg Van Eetvelde
Sophie van den Keybus
CAST
Koen Allegaerts:
Magda De Herdt:
Gene Bervoets
Veerle Dobbelaere
Prosecutor Versandt:
D.A. Blechtert:
Iris Allegaerts ( aged 13 ):
Iris Allegaerts (aged 18-23):
Fred Wolters:
Irène Wolters:
Elke Wolters (13 Jahre):
Elke Wolters (18-23 Jahre):
Dom P:
Lawyer Guy Spaan:
Court bailiff:
Policeman Kevin Van Durmen:
Policeman Frankie De Groote:
Koen Van Impe
Bruno Vanden Broecke
Sofia Ferri
Marie Vinck
Dirk Van Dijck
Ilse Uitterlinden
Marie Van Loock
Amaryllis Uitterlinden
Tom Waes
Michaël Pas
Nico Sturm
Stef Aerts
Gunther Lesage
Year of production: 2009
Original title: SM Rechter
Duration: 88 min
Language: German
Format: 35mm
Aspect Ratio: 1:1.78
Ton: Dolby SR
Genre: Erotic drama
World distribution: Bridge Entertainment Group
AWARDS:
Best Film 2010 (Cinekink New York, USA)
Honorable Mention of the Jury 2010 (Rome Independent Film Festival, Italy)
Best Film 2010 (International TV Festival Bar, Montenegro)
Best actress (International TV Festival Bar, Montenegro)
Bester Film 2009 (Kiel Fetish Film Festival)
Best actorr 2009: Gene Bervoets (Kiel Fetish Film Festival)
Best actress 2009: Veerle Dobbelaere (Kiel Fetish Film Festival)
FESTIVALS
Transilvania International Films Festival 2011
Cinekink NYC, 2010
Rome Independent Film Festival, 2010
International Television Festival Bar, Montenegro 2010
Fetish Film Festival Kiel, 2010
Split Film Festival, Croatia 2010
Montreal International Film Festival, 2009
SYNOPSIS:
After 25 years of marriage Koen and Magda are in a crisis. She is going through a heavy
depression, neglects her daughter and also herself. Finally she has a nervous breakdown and
has to stay in hospital. Back home, Koen askes her, how he could help her. Magda reveals her
secret to him, a secret she had kept for 30 years: her secret but strong masochistic inclination
and fantasies. She wants her husband to cause her pain. Koen is confused and reserved at first,
but decides to stand by his wife and to get himself into her “dark desires” and walk this path
together with her.
The couple goes to an SM studio and starts a psychological and sexual discovery journey.
Magda feels great relief, followed by a sensation of pleasure and happiness she would never
have thought possible before. Koen is a judge in the Belgian Mechelem, but as their sexual
life gets public accidentally, a prosecutor investigates and the family is in the focus of a public
debate about privacy and justice.
Based on a true story
In 1997 the Belgian people were shocked, when the judge Koen A. was prosecuted for his
S&M relationship to his wife Magda. Although their life was destroyed by the verdict, Koen
and his wife Magda remained together until now. A moving and exceptional story about the
dark sides of sexuality and a love conquering all. The multiple award winning erotic drama is
a moving film with impressive acting that gets under one’s skin. A pleading for privacy and
personal freedom of choice.
SHORT SYNOPSIS
A film based on a true story.
The Belgian judge Koen A. was sentenced for his SM relationship with his wife. Although
their life was destroyed by the verdict, Koen and his wife Magda remained together until now.
A moving and exceptional story about the dark sides of sexuality and a love conquering all.
The multiple award winning erotic drama is a moving film with impressive acting that gets
under one’s skin. A pleading for privacy and personal freedom of choice.
PRODUCTION NOTE:
The film is based on the true case of the Belgian judge “Koen Arrousseau”, who was charged
and sentenced for bodily injury and procurement because of a private video in 1997.
The video, which appeared in the course of an observation regarding the Dutroux case in an
S&M studio, shows him whipping his tied up wife and subjecting her to several
sadomasochistic practices.
The case got to the European Court of Human Rights and was confirmed there in 2003. Koen
was deposed from office, lost his civil rights and all pension entitlement.
This happened although Koen’s wife Magda credibly assured and testified several times that
all of the scenes not only happened in mutual consent but even more at her own explicit
request. These statements were confirmed by psychiatrists. Today he is on social benefits.
This case caused a sensation in Belgium in the end of the 1990s and got great attention in the
media. “The most controversial film of the year” (Flanders Today)
The Belgian film maker Erik Lamens took this impressive story as a plot for his first featurelength film.
The careful research and preparation for this film took about 18 months. Erik Lamens did not
only read the entire court files, but also had hours of conversation with Koen and Magda to
get to know their point of view.
The preparation included visiting the S&M clubs in Antwerpen and intensive conversations
with the guests about their individual experiences in the field of S&M.
The story began with the strong depression of Magda, which lead to a nervous breakdown
with hospitalization. This decisive incident led her to reveal her hidden strong masochistic
inclination and fantasies to her husband
Ashamed, she suggested him to get divorced. But Koen decided to stand by his wife and to
live out her “secret desires” with her.
COMMENT OF THE DIRECTOR:
“If the film manages to touch the viewers, then it influences them. And if it affects them, this
will someday find expression in the thinking and acting of these people. From that point of
view every moving film is also political.
The public in Belgium already stood behind the judge and his wife while the case was heard
and criticized the justice enormously. Many people watched this movie; it was even number
one in the Belgian box office charts. I believe people think differently about sadomasochism
now. People who live BDSM deserve respect. They are not freaks; they simply have a
different sexual life.
Recently a student BDSM –club was officially accepted by the university of Ghent. That
never happened before. I would wish that my movie contributed a little bit to a bigger
comprehension of the way of life of people living S&M.
However on the legislation level nothing seems to change until now. Koen lives together with
his wife Magda as a condemned sexual offender, from minimal social benefit in a small flat in
Antwerpen“. (Erik Lamens)
COMMENT OF THE JUDGE:
“One day, on the Flemish TV channel VTM, I saw that ideas for scripts were searched, for a
movie to be shot. The best 5 ideas were going to be produced and partly be supported by
VTM. A few hours after having sent my story, I got a call from Erik. My intention was to
make public Magda’s story.
Speaking is easier for me than for Magda, that’s why I always took over the speaking at
interviews (TV, Radio or newspapers). That gave the impression, that I was a dominant man,
which is not true. The initiative was much more taken by Magda and everything was her
desire. Therefor also the film’s point of view is not entirely correct, because I am shown as
the central Figure. I am not a real S&M person and actually never understood the submissive
persons, or the facts that some persons like to dominate others. What I can understand is that
they do it during a session, but I can’t understand how you can make a way of life out of it.”
(Koen Arousseau)