Laura and John Baxter (Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland) are grieving the drowning death of their daughter Christine (Sharon Williams) in an accident at their English country home. To try move on, they accept an offer for John, an architect, to help restore a cathedral in Venice. Once there, Julie meets sisters Heather (Hilary Mason) and Wendy (Clelia Matatania) at a restaurant; Heather is blind and psychic but claims to be able to "see" Christine, a revelation that shakes Laura profoundly. She then tells John of this but he immediately dismisses their claims, only to soon encounter some very mysterious and increasingly violent sightings himself. Meanwhile, Laura joins the sisters for a seance, before seemingly disappearing. In trying to unravel this deepening mystery, Laura and John become very precariously embroiled in it themselves.
This adaptation of a Daphne du Maurier short story is fully worthy of its status as a classic of horror and British filmmaking. Director Nicolas Roeg vividly and lucidly invokes the beautiful Venetian scenery (the canals and rowboats are naturally ubiquitous) to visually express what our heroes are longing to restore to their lives - a sense of peace - and very insightfully lifts the location's veil slowly to reveal the true threat it possesses underneath its luxurious street levels. Chris Bryant and Allan Scott's sensitive and patient screenplay effectively navigates the urgency and estranged intimacy of the Baxters' relationship before it goes literally to horror, and Christie and Sutherland (who share a famously steamy sex scene which was hugely controversial upon release) both never hit a false note. (Mind you, Sutherland's hairdo here can stay in 1973.) Don't Look Now had an initially mixed reception, but in 1999 it was voted the eighth-greatest British film ever made and I can see why. It is thoroughly atmospheric, chilling, tastefully sexual and flawlessly plotted and executed. Trust me, you do want to look now.
No comments:
Post a Comment