Spoiler File
(5.5MB, 600x350, 01:34) >>387
The strange visions are personal Marian apparitions warning him that one of the literature's club members and wealthy stylist, played by perky ''Renee Soutendijk, is the devil in disguise playing games and just like a black widow he will kill him in a long mating ritual just like he did with her 3 previous husbands and multiple partners
After realizing at the very last moment what was happening, in the middle of a gay blowjob in a graveyard tomb mind you, our protagonist desperately tries to escape town and when trapped in death's claws after an accident he thanks Mary for Her warnings and seeks for forgiveness for his misdeeds if She was keen to hear him, all of this in the middle of a breakdown that further aggravates when the stylist appears to see how's he doing. After a brief struggle between doctors and nurses our man here is sedated by a nurse who, wait for this, is actually the woman in his visions and the one who also casually tells him to heed his premonitions in the stylist saloon, turns out she was always in-frame in the whole monologue
With an angelic tone she tells him he's protected and that nothing will harm him now, moments later in the ending she moves the writer away from all the madness into a secluded room and has a bitching staredown with the stylist who goes away with a new dude asking for trouble
If you read that you know it's a chaotic switch that both Verhoeven and the writer idealized to be as hard as possible for the critics to analyze without mixing ideology in, it's either a butt pirate who has his noble christian redemption or a "different" type of guy with flaws that functions normally in society. A tough spot for everyone and while waiting for the results the long-time producer of Verhoeven, Rob Houwer, decided he had enough defending the guy and ended their business links although in an amicable way, first heavy blow and the second one would come with the critic's association deciding not to review the movie and leave it as a niche art house product up to the public to see it or not. More or less they capitulated but the reaction was never public, and with no one wanting to touch him Verhoeven was basically blacklisted after this stunt and went to try his luck in America, packing his bags and leaving as a controversial figure yet probably their most successful representative in terms of television and film directors.
For his luck the movie was heavily in circulation on north american film festivals and was praised by critics (who honestly weren't that heterosexual or catholic to begin with, winning accolades in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, New York and Seattle) which automatically gave him the opportunity to try his luck there starting with a couple of fantasy projects co-produced with European funds akin to Neverending Story, such as Flesh + Blood and a couple of television episodes.
After proving his professional stance he went to Hollywood full time and received only crappy Cannon and Orion scripts, throwing into the trash many of them and felt into a small depression until his wife picked one up and talked her way in about modifying one to his particular satirical and subversive tastes and because they needed the money the Hov thought this was genius and started rewriting and adding depth into one about a cyborg police officer; The rest is history.