Iconic Dutch director Nouchka van Brakel, who was responsible for A Woman Like Eve which focused on lesbianism, previously explored something even more taboo. In her 1977 film, The Debut (AKA Het Debuut), she conjured up a story about another controversial subject, sex with an underage child and the discreet love affair that would follow between an older married man and a minor which sounds contrived but is certainly possible.

The Debut may remind cinephiles of Lolita or even Breezy with similar themes even though the females in those films were a bit older. In The Debut, Carolien Sanders (Marina de Graaf) a 14 year old schoolgirl has a torrid affair with a friend of her father, Hugo (Gerard Cox), who is 41 years of age and also married. They fall in love with each other, and have a sexual relationship, but their age differences and having to be discreet causes a tremendous amount of tension, mostly on Carolien’s side. 

I found the film to be enjoyable, but silly with Hugo getting lovesick over a fourteen-year-old girl who had maturity issues and really had no experience being in a relationship. One could wonder if she would get involved with someone else after her relationship with Hugo and after another horrible experience with a boy closer to her age.

The Debut was based on the novel by Hester Albach and is known for being first commercially successful Dutch theatrical film directed by a woman. It was also the first full-length feature film from Nouchka van Brakel, who had done short films prior to this one. This picture was only the beginning for the director. In addition to A Woman Like Eve, she would later explore other controversial subject matters such as prostitution in The Cool Lakes of Death.

Cult Epics “debuts” The Debut on Blu-ray with a new HD transfer from an original 33mm print, and it is another strong release, which is the case among their other releases of films directed by Nouchka van Brakel. The colors are deeply rich and bold, with a vast amount of detail and clarity to the scenery, particularly those in broad daylight. The clothes the actors wear are exceptionally vivid. Skin tones look accurate with strong details shown in close-ups. Film grain is also present during the presentation, showing no digital manipulation such as DNR appears to have been used.

Cult Epics offers two audio tracks for The Debut, the original Dutch LPCM 2.0 Mono track or a new Dutch DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track. You cannot go wrong with other one as the dialog, sounds and the pleasant musical scores Ron Westerbeek are perfectly fine without any issues detected. Optional English subtitles are available for this release.

Extras for this package include a Polygoon Journal Newsreel (a Netherlands based cinema news company), a poster and photo gallery and theatrical trailers for other Cult Epic titles, A Woman Like Eve, The Blue Movie, The Debut and The Cool Lakes of Death.

The Debut is another film exploring topics that had not been explored in such graphic detail. The release by Cult Epics is highly recommended, not just because of the film, but due to the superior audio and video quality, and the bonus materials. This is very much worth a spin for those who have not seen it. You will not be sorry!

The Debut

Director- Nouchka van Brakel

Cast- Marina de Graaf, Gerard Cox, Pleuni Touw

Country of Origin- Netherlands

Distributor –Cult Epics

Number of Discs – 1

Reviewed by – David Steigman

Date-5/23/21