The Columnist (film)

Lore & Background

The film was conceived by director Ivo van Aart and writer Daan Windhorst, who immediately thought of the Dutch term 'Kuthoer' (literally 'The Cunt Whore'), a common insult on social media. They included 'De' in the title to signify it was about a single person. The story is loosely based on a short story written by Windhorst. Katja Herbers was cast as the central character Femke Boot, a choice influenced by her role in the second season of Westworld. Principal photography took place in 2018.

Reader's Guide

The Columnist premiered in the Netherlands on 8 January 2020. It screened during August 2020 at the Fantasia Festival (North American premiere) and at FrightFest. In September 2020 it aired on NPO 3 in the Netherlands, drawing 308,000 viewers, before becoming available on NPO Start. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an 80% approval rating based on 79 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The critics consensus describes it as 'savagely funny and viscerally unsettling,' taking the unbridled vitriol of social media to a bloodily over-the-top conclusion. Metacritic assigned a weighted average score of 58 out of 100 based on 12 critics, indicating mixed or average reviews. Common praise focused on the film's social commentary, which critics at Film School Rejects and Bloody Disgusting found biting. Rue Morgue called it 'a sharp condemnation of those hiding behind their keyboards, hidden inside a hilarious look at a woman pushed to her breaking point.'

Did You Know?

• The film's Dutch title 'De Kuthoer' literally translates to 'The Cunt Whore'.
• Director Ivo van Aart and writer Daan Windhorst chose the title because it is a term of abuse often seen on social media.
• Katja Herbers was cast as the lead partly due to her role in the second season of Westworld.

Plot & Narrative Arc

The story follows Femke Boot, a depressed newspaper columnist under pressure from her publisher to finish a book while enduring a relentless stream of online abuse. The turning point comes when she identifies her loud, obnoxious neighbor as one of her digital tormentors. She kills him and keeps one of his fingers as a trophy. Paradoxically, the murder lifts her spirits, spurring her to finally write and to pursue a romance with a novelist named Steven. Yet Femke's campaign against her abusers consumes her. Her growing absences fracture her relationships: Steven becomes convinced she is having an affair, while her daughter Anna seethes over a missed school presentation. The hunt culminates at the home of Tarik, the ringleader of the harassment. Femke fires what she believes is a killing shot at Tarik, only to discover she has killed his father and that Tarik is merely a teenager. Steven and Anna, having deduced their mother is a serial killer, intervene. Steven's attempt to stop her startles her into shooting the boy. In the final confrontation, Femke kills Steven and walks into her book launch party still drenched in blood. The audience, mistaking her appearance for an artistic statement, rises to applaud.

Creative Origins & Production

The concept for the film emerged from a conversation between director Ivo van Aart and writer Daan Windhorst, who together fixated on the Dutch word 'Kuthoer'—a vulgar term of abuse they noted appears constantly in social media threads filled with threats and vitriol. They deliberately prefixed it with 'De' to signal that the story would center on a single individual rather than a general phenomenon. Both creators expressed a clear hope that the finished film would serve as a wakeup call regarding the real-world damage of online bullying. The narrative is loosely adapted from a short story Windhorst had previously written. Production plans were publicly announced in 2019, with principal photography scheduled for early 2020. The casting of Katja Herbers as Femke Boot was a deliberate choice by van Aart, who cited her performance in the second season of Westworld as a key influence. The supporting ensemble included Genio de Groot, Rein Hofman, Bram van der Kelen, Achraf Koutet, Claire Porro, and Harry van Rijthoven in roles ranging from the publisher to the school headmaster and a police officer.

Release & Festival Circuit

The Columnist received its Dutch theatrical release on 8 January 2020, but its international journey unfolded over the following months. In August 2020, the film made its North American premiere at the Fantasia Festival. It also screened at FrightFest during the same period, extending its reach to additional festival audiences. Back in the Netherlands, the film found a broad audience through television. In September 2020, it aired on NPO 3, the country's public broadcaster, drawing a viewership of 308,000 people. Following its broadcast, the title became available on NPO Start, the broadcaster's on-demand streaming platform, allowing Dutch audiences to revisit the film at their own pace. This multi-platform rollout—spanning theatrical release, genre festivals, linear television, and streaming—gave the black comedy thriller a notably wide footprint for a Dutch independent production, ensuring that its satirical take on digital harassment reached viewers well beyond the traditional cinema-going public.

Critical Reception & Thematic Resonance

Critical response to The Columnist was broadly positive, though not uniformly so. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an 80 percent approval rating based on 79 reviews, with an average score of 6.9 out of 10. The site's consensus describes it as savagely funny and viscerally unsettling, crediting it with taking the unbridled vitriol of social media to its bloodily over-the-top conclusion. Metacritic, however, assigned a more moderate weighted average of 58 out of 100 from 12 critics, characterizing the reception as mixed or average. Praise consistently centered on the film's social commentary. Outlets such as Film School Rejects and Bloody Disgusting singled out its biting satire, while Rue Morgue and Film Threat both published favorable reviews. Rue Morgue in particular framed the film as a sharp condemnation of those who hide behind keyboards, wrapped inside a hilarious portrait of a woman pushed to her breaking point, concluding that in the end there are no winners in this game. The film's ability to blend dark humor with genuine moral weight appears to have been its most celebrated quality.

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