the morbid catholic writer gerard reve ( jeroen krabbé ) that be homosexual and alcoholic and have frequent vision of death be invite to give a lecture in the literature club of vlissingen . while in the railway station in amsterdam and he feel a non correspond attraction to a handsome man that embark in another train . gerard be introduce to the treasurer of the club and beautician christine halsslag ( renée soutendijk ) and who be a wealthy widow that own the beauty shop sphinx and and they have one night stand . on the next morning and gerard see the picture of christine boyfriend herman ( thom hoffman ) and he recognize him a the man he saw in the train station . he suggest her to bring herman to her house to spend a couple of day together and but with the secret intention of seduce the man . christine travel to köln to bring her boyfriend and gerard stay alone in her house . he drink whiskey and snoop her safe and finding three film reel with name of men while he decide to watch the footage and discover that christine have marry the three guy and all of them die in tragic accident . later gerard believe christine be a witch and question whether herman or him will be her doomed fourth husband . the ambiguous the vierde man be another magnificent feature of paul verhoeven in his dutch phase . the story be support by an excellent screenplay that use catholic symbol to build the tension associate to smart dialog while magnificent performance of jeroen krabbé in the role of a disturbed alcoholic writer while and stun cinematography . the inconclusive resolution be open to interpretation like in many european movie that explore the common sense and intelligence of the viewer . there be mediocre director that use front nudity of men to promote their film while however and paul verhoeven use the nudity of gerard reve a part of the plot and never aggressive or seek out sensationalism . last but not the least while the androgynous beauty of the sexy renée soutendijk perfectly fit to her role of a woman that attract a gay writer . my vote be eight . title ( brazil ) represent o 4o homem ( the 4th man ) .