Film & TV4 min(s) read
Back in 1993, a controversial Dutch arthouse movie was unveiled to the public for the first time at an independent film festival.
It was titled 'Diary Of A Weak Yogi', and it was intended to shock viewers.
The film, which was in black-and-white, tells a provocative story, with nudity featured throughout, along with explicit and sexually-charged scenes regularly shown.
While the on-screen content was controversial, there were more headlines made from the creation and intended release of the title.
Unfortunately for directors Pim de la Parra and Ronaldo la Silva, the movie was so inappropriate that it never made it to cinemas.
And just days after filming wrapped, lead actor Kamaran Abdulla took his own life.
Now, 33 years on, the film has finally been released in cinemas, though director de la Parra will never see the film's theatrical release, having died three years ago.
The Dutch movie focuses on two couples who seem happy, before jealousy, resentment and sexual frustrations cause the relationships to unravel.
Derek (Abdulla) is a university professor married to Audrey (Manouk van der Muelen), a successful novelist.
They are friends with Robert, a painter getting ready for an exhibition in Rotterdam, and his wife Loes, who is a motorcycle mechanic.
The four start to spend more time together, unveiling the truths and scars of their relationships, resulting in the couples swapping partners.
This then leads to a number of sexual run-ins that involve sadomasochism and BDSM, going beyond normal romantic scenes.
For example, there is a scene where Derek is whipped repeatedly by a crowd of people dressed in bondage - there is another scene where Loes is seen riding her racehorse, naked.
While these scenes may be graphic, this isn't what stopped the title from seeing the light of day; it was a lack of finances.
The film's release relied on funding from the conservative Dutch Film Fund, which chose to refuse to pay them the money needed to see out production.
Following the suicide of actor Kamaran Abdulla and the film's explicit nature, including extreme nudity, they chose to hold back on funding.
The filmmakers were then unable to finish what they started, with aspects like the soundtrack and the film's opening and closing credits left to do.
Eventually, De la Parra and la Silva won their respective lawsuits against the Fund, as courts ordered it to pay them the grant money.
But the Fund still refused, as the unfinished movie remained locked away.
Abdulla played lead character Derek, though he would tragically die by suicide at the age of 34, days after filming had wrapped.
As well as the funding issue, the death of the Dutch-Iraqi actor affected the production and cast.
Paul Ruven, a screenwriter who helped to get the film its theatrical release this year, said that the late artist only agreed to take the role on one day before filming began.
He explained, as per the Daily Mail: "I called him around midnight for the role,
"He was willing, but he had just called his parents in Iraq to tell them he was going to commit suicide... But as far as he was concerned, the suicide could wait until after filming.
"Because of that, Kamaran felt no shame whatsoever, because he wouldn't be around anymore anyway when the reviews came out. No other actor I know would expose himself like that."
Ruven helped to bring a forgotten piece of cinema to the public eye over 30 years after its release, as part of a promise made to the late de la Parra.
It also allows audiences to see Abdulla's raw, explicit performance for the first time.
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