A true masterpiece. I finally got to see this on the big screen in Brighton this afternoon....what a visual treat that was. One of the best British films ever made.
I saw this in a theater in Calgary in 1973. It stayed with me for years. A brilliant film about grief, loss, clairvoyance and horror. Masterfully directed by Roeg with stunning performances by the two stars. The scene in the church when Sutherland falls is breathtaking. Roeg editing passionate lovemaking of Donald and Julie with them getting dressed aprés-sex is wonderful.
I was blessed seeing Don't Look Now on the cinema screen in early 1974 on a double bill with The Wicker Man. What a brilliant combination! I'll never forget (spoiler) the gasp from the audience when the dwarf at the end turned, shook her head, and drew out the knife. When the blade cut into Donald Sutherland's neck in close up, a group of young ladies screamed out. The power of a brilliant film. 😨 🔪
I find quite a lot of films brilliant, but this...this goes BEYOND brilliant. And 50 years later it hasn't lost any of its narrative and visual power. I found Roeg's later films quite disappointing! Odd is that Pino Donaggio was chosen for the score. He was 30 yo, a coposer/singer in the pop realm, and this was his first movie assignment. He hit the right tone. And the - sparse - synthesizer moments still don't sound dated to me.
I tried to show this movie to a work colleague of my wife, a teacher, who was visiting us for the evening. We were just a few minutes in, and the teacher announced, "Nobody would allow their little girl to play unattended where there is a pond like that." And that was that. We had to switch off the movie and find something else she was willing to watch.
@@knownpleasures Feels to me like a lesson I've had to learn over and over in art: you get much more interesting results by paying attention to reality than by inventing things out of whole cloth. It's somewhat counterintuitive: one might assume that being creative means going with one's imagination and that reality is boring. When you start paying close attention to reality, you find you had no idea, it's far more interesting than you thought and than anything you could come up with on your own. And then, maybe, the business of somehow transferring that to art(ifice) is even more interesting.
What a film! Watched it because I wanted to find out about Venice and found one of the best films in the style I like. Vintage and psychological thriller. Visually stunning ❤
Don't Look Now was my introduction to Nicolas Roeg. I was immediately struck by the fractured, nonlinear style of filmmaking that makes his films like cinematic jigsaw puzzles where many pieces are deliberately left out so that each viewer could arrive at their own interpretation of what they have just watched. It is what keeps his films fresh decades after their initial release. They seem to exist within their own universe and have a timeless quality to them. But it is Don't Look Now that I frequently return to. Whereas many filmmakers will go to extreme lengths to make their films as realistic as possible a Nicolas Roeg film never lets you forget you're watching a film, manipulating the audience with false clues that must be weighed with everything else you are watching. The mystery of DLN is never explained or if those two sisters are frauds. Sadly his last handful of films were not very good and pale in comparison to his early works, but he was never going to be a conventional director. I do have a bit of a soft spot for Full Body ,- it's very dialogue heavy but Mimi Rogers frequently nude makes it worth watching. 😉😉😉😉
The best English director of 20th C. Just on Performance and this. What happened to British cinema? Destroyed by toffs? Everything they touch turns to shit.
Watched it a few nights ago and haven't been able to stop thinking about it. I read the film as a satanic curse placed on the family due to the father's restoration of God's houses.
@la la: wha...whaaaat?! Julie Christie is revelatory here. She can easily carry a 'forlorn british-ness' whenever she wants but in this it is something more. Deep grief, anger and frustration. Just holding it together and permanently fractured. One of my favorite roles she ever played. Haunting.
@@maxthepupp It is so subjective. I find her acting both wooden and theatrical....as if she is playing the role of an actor rather than being an actor.
It is a great film though... And Julie Christie is great in it. I hope you're aware that you're in a very tiny minority of people who thinks the opposite to either of those things lol.
@@zufgh not aware of any reliable polling on the topic so no I do not know that and nor can you. But I am happy to be in a minority given that popular taste is often bestial. Have you seen how Christie ruins Billy Liar? Another potentially brilliant film spoiled by sexist casting and direction.
