The Dress

There are some subjects, such as rape and stalking, that should never be trivialized in film, much less made light of. Yet for all its light-spirited pretentions, "The Dress" makes the crucial error of doing just that.

More's the pity, because at times this absurdist Dutch comedy is very, very funny, such as when two clothing manufacturing executives come to blows over the title object, a blue summer dress that seems to affect everyone who sees it — or wears it, which is even more disastrous.

But writer/director Alex van Warmerdam must not have a firm moral center, at least when it comes to filmmaking, because there are some very questionable lapses in storytelling taste. And it's not a completely original idea, since the theme has already been explored in films like 1942's "Tales of Manhattan."

First to feel the "curse" of the dress is its fabric designer, who breaks up with his girlfriend. From there, its maligancy embraces the manufacturing execs, as well as the pattern designer.

Next up are its slate of owners, a 60-something housewife who becomes sexually aroused when she wears it, a housemaid who discovers it in a field and a schoolgirl who buys a redesigned version of it. Then there's the obsessive train ticket-taker (the director himself) who desires every woman who possesses it.

The latter character provides the movie with its worst, and also its funniest moments — the former when he stalks the housemaid and practically attacks her, and when he later follows the schoolgirl and forces her to undress. But his final bit in an art museum is hysterical.

As a storyteller, van Warmerdam does a nice job of bringing the story full circle, as he follows up the tale of one of the manufacturing executives in a most unexpected manner.

"The Dress" is not rated but would receive at least an R for female nudity, violent fist fights, vulgar references and gags, profanity, an attempted rape and use of some racial epithets.