This is a reader request, which I’ll sometimes entertain when folks follow these tips, plus the request is a topic I’m at least partially interested in! Matthias Schoenaerts doesn’t have a lengthy resume yet, but he’s on the rise, mixing action movies with frock flicks. Which is ideal for cultivating that strong, sensitive guy image, who’s looking for:
“I need someone with a real passion for life; a person who’s on a quest for truthfulness. I find that incredibly attractive. They also need to be pretty independent, like a cat. If I could be any animal, I’d be a cat. They don’t rely on anyone. In a relationship you have to trust each other — becoming dependent on one another isn’t healthy. Also, cats don’t ‘have’ to do anything — how great is that?”
Pretty great!
Joop in Black Book (2006)
Schoenaerts has a small role in this film, set in Nazi-occupied Netherlands during WWII, but I’ll be damned if I can find a picture of him from it.
Alfred Lenaerts in De smaak van De Keyser (2008), aka The Emperor of Taste
This was a highly regarded 10-part series about a Flemish family starting in 1939 & extending over three generations.
Ties van Heesch in De bende van Oss (2011) aka The Gang of Oss
Fraud, prostitution, manslaughter, & murder in 1938 Netherlands, tho’ I don’t see much in the way of historical costume. Hrm…
André Le Notre in A Little Chaos (2014)
Admittedly, I watched this movie for Alan Rickman, but Matthias Schoenaerts wasn’t bad. However, is that coat denim? Oh, Joan Bergin, you scamp!
Lieutenant Bruno von Falk in Suite Française (2014)
Schoenaerts said he didn’t want to play the Nazi, but he read the book the movie’s based on & thought: “if the writer loves the character so much, then I have to allow myself to love him as well.”
Gabriel Oak in Far From the Madding Crowd (2015)
Schoenaerts said of this character: “I was fascinated by the absolute selflessness and sincerity and loyalty of that guy.”
Hans Axgil in The Danish Girl (2015)
Matthias Schoenaerts plays an art dealer & friend of Lili Elbe, tho’ he’s a fictionalized character in this highly fictionalized story.
Captain Herder in A Hidden Life (2019)
A melancholy film about an Austrian farmer who is conscientiously objecting to conscription in WWII by Hitler’s forces.
What’s your favorite historical role played by Matthias Schoenaerts?
Loved him in A Little Chaos and The Danish Girl and Suite Francaise. He emanates a quiet, soft-spoken, smoldering, sexiness.
Oh, I just watched ‘Far From the Madding Crowd’. That man is a snack.
Well, the only one I’ve seen is A Hidden Life, and I didn’t recognize him, but I suppose that must be it! For costumes it’s fairly simple 1940s countryside clothing, but nice. The film is visually beautiful and the story compelling and interestingly told.
A Little Chaos
Having been a foreign exchange student in northern Belgium in the early 1970s, I can understand his reluctance to play a Nazi in Suite Francaise, as the horrors of World War II were not so far removed and were still part of the Benelux psyche. Thanks for posting this–it will be interesting to see his performance in it.
He sure is easy on the eyes.
If you want to see more of him like a LOT more of him, check out A Bigger Splash as the hunky boyfriend of Tilda Swinton’s Bowie-inspired rock star character as they convalesce in a spartan yet chic villa on a volcanic Sicilian island (!) Enter Ralph Fiennes as her ex-lover and drama ensues. (you see a LOT more him too)