Don't Look Now
1973
Nicolas Roeg's third film--after the brash PERFORMANCE (1970) and meditative WALKABOUT (1971)--is a haunting thriller that confirmed the director's status as a true visionary. Based on a story by Daphne Du Maurier, DON'T LOOK NOW follows a grieving English couple to Venice, where the past continues to plague them. John Baxter (.. Read more
| Starring | Donald Sutherland, Julie Christie, Hilary Mason, Celia Matania |
|---|---|
| Director | Nicolas Roeg |
| Genres | Thriller |
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Don't Look Now
Nicolas Roeg's third film--after the brash PERFORMANCE (1970) and meditative WALKABOUT (1971)--is a haunting thriller that confirmed the director's status as a true visionary. Based on a story by Daphne Du Maurier, DON'T LOOK NOW follows a grieving English couple to Venice, where the past continues to plague them. John Baxter (Donald Sutherland) and his wife Laura (Julie Christie) are in mourning for their young daughter, who drowned tragically near their home. John takes a job in Venice so that the couple can leave the past behind, but, unfortunately, the past is not easily forgotten. While John begins to see unsettling visions of a young girl in a red coat running through the Venice streets, Laura learns from an elderly psychic that her husband is in grave danger. What follows is an eerie, erotic mystery that builds to a shockingly horrific climax. DON'T LOOK NOW is one of the most daring and influential motion pictures of the 1970s. From Pino Donaggio's atmospheric score to Graeme Clifford's elliptical editing (exemplified in the film's notorious sex scene), Roeg's film is a stylistic achievement. Sutherland and Christie are their typical phenomenal selves playing the bereaved, devastated couple.
| Starring | Donald Sutherland, Julie Christie, Hilary Mason, Celia Matania |
|---|---|
| Director | Nicolas Roeg |
| Studio | WARNER HOME VIDEO |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 45 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Thriller |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 29 Jul 2002 Production year: 1973 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (4)
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It would be hard to better the credits for this frantic French farce. Shot by Jean Renoir's nephew, Claude, and with a score by France's finest film composer, Georges Auric, it is directed with gleeful assurance by Gérard Oury, a former member of the world-famous Comédie-Française. The stars are our own Terry-Thomas, the gently comedic Bourvil and practised farceur Louis De Funès, perhaps best known here for the Gendarme of St Tropez series. Why, then, does this story of an RAF pilot sheltered from the incompetent Nazis by the Resistance manage to be less funny than an episode of 'Allo, 'Allo?
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A macabre short story has become a puzzling piece of high cinema art full of vague suggestions and unexplored avenues. Whatever its overall deficiencies, it is too brilliant in surface detail to be dismissed. Depressingly but fascinatingly set in wintry V
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Most helpful member's review
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32 out of 36 people found this review helpful
Look Now!
If you haven't then do, if you have then do so again. Watching this film is to watch a master at work, Nick Roeg knits together time strands and imagery that challenge the viewer and produce a truly pioneering film. Defying us to categorise this film Roeg has not made a classic horror or thriller, "Don’t Look Now"’s horror is internalised and only becomes horrific when seen as a whole. Don’t expect a building sense of horror, instead experience tension a plenty and a continuous and uncomfortable sense of doom.
A psychological examination of intense and ongoing grief set within a strained relationship and the claustrophobic back routes of Venice. Don’t Look Now could easily have suffered from style over substance, but, although Roeg could give David Lynch a few pointers in the surreal, the actors manage an incredible depth of emotion that forces the viewer to care about them. Donald Sutherland is on top form and the heart wrenching opening scene will leave even the hardened viewer contemplating the unfairness of life and the love of a parent. And the oft commented on sex scene; this really should be compulsory viewing for all new directors... this is how it should be filmed, people.
Although "Don’t Look Now" is rated and ranked highly by just about every critic, and rightly so, this film is not easy viewing. A must see to complete your personal top 100, but not sure the average viewer will rank it in their top 10. -
Most recent members' review
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5 out of 5 people found this review helpful
A new Venice
A couple travel to Venice to try and recover their marriage after the death of their child and find themselves wrapped into shadows and menace of Venician glory. All is not well and there is a killer on the lose amid the subtlety, raw emotion and art.
Having read the book behind this film, I was not expecting it to have too many surprises. What I found was a demanding, disturbing, beautiful film, which added complexity to the original plot. The climactic scene will send you reeling even if you have already worked out what is coming. Please watch this film! -
News and features
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Carter named best of British
- 15 May 2008
Michael Caine's tough-as-nails gangster flick Get Carter has been named the greatest British film ever in a new poll. ShortList magazine named the 1971 story of murder and revenge as its number one ahead of 1979 cult classic Quadrophenia and another Michael Caine classic, The Italian Job. Also named in the top ten were 1987 luvvies-on-the-lash comedy Withnail & I, Bob Hoskins' own gangster flick The Long Good Friday and Daniel Craig's debut as 007, Casino Royale. Seventh place on the list... Read more
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