Monsieur Hawarden

Belgium, Netherlands

1969

109 Min

Black and White

Dutch

Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
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SCR Jan Blokker, Filip De Pillecyn

CAST Ellen Vogel, Hilde Uitterlinden, Joan Remmelts, Dora van der Groen, Xander Fisher, Senne Rouffaer, Marielle Fiolet, John Lanting, Carola Gijsbers van Wijk, Beppie Blokker, Ernie Damen, Jan Blokker, Gerard van der Boom

It’s the story of a woman who disguises herself as a man in order to avoid prosecution for the murder of her lover happened 15 years before. By accident her servant, with whom she travels all through Europe, discovers her secret. She tries to starts her life anew in another city, but she keeps on suffering from guilt and reaches the point of considering suicide as the only way out. She will not be able to avoid her fate. —rutgerhauer.org

Director

Harry Kümel

Harry Kümel (born 27 January 1940 in Antwerp, Belgium) is a Belgian film director. His 1971 vampire feature Daughters of Darkness (Les lèvres rouges), starring Delphine Seyrig became a cult hit in Europe and the United States. He also directed the film version of Malpertuis, featuring Orson Welles and adapted from the novel by Jean Ray.

He also directed Monsieur Hawarden about the cross-dressing Meriora Gillibrand whose two male lovers fought a duel in Vienna. She then killed the survivor and fled to Belgium dressed as a man. She took the name Hawarden from a family related to hers in Lancashire. The film is a fictionalised account; her grave can still be seen in the German-speaking part of Belgium. He made a cameo appearance in Nicholas Royle’s novel Antwerp. —Wikipedia