This Dutch film directed by Marleen Gorris won the 1996 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, which, rather than being an award based on quality, is usually the mark of a film the Academy found to be the least confusing among the nominated entrants. Dutch frequently sounds like English, and whenever Academy voters hear a word of English in a foreign film, they give it extra points because that's less work they have to do. The movie is about four generations of strong-willed women in a small Dutch town who need men like they need gangrene. The film focuses on how these women turn the values of this small town upside-down.
Men take a beating.
Religion takes a beating. A lot of people, male and female alike, are dragged down from time to time by the unfairness of life. A hermit named Crooked Finger provides an education for Therese and together they spend an inordinate amount of time discussing Nietzsche and Schopenhauer.