This is a sensual study of a young man, Arnold Cleever, who goes into retreat when a photo in a newspaper convinces him that he is a wanted SS officer. In his paranoid state, his relationship with his relatives deteriorates, while he develops a love-hate affair with his mistress.

Adriaan Ditvoorst, the young director of this first feature, has tackled a difficult subject and realised it with limited resources. His achievement is in his vision of the wintry city and Arnold's acquaintances, so remote and grotesque that the boy seems like an island of sensitivity amidst all the tension and violent action. The world of the director has a cruel impermanence, the effect of which is heightened by the rivetting sound­track disconcertingly slapped against the images.