Production year 1973
Directed by Nicolas Roeg
Screenplay by Allan Scott and Chris Bryant,
based on a short story by Daphne du Maurier
Starring Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland
One of the finest British films of the 1970s or any other decade, once seen this eerie thriller will haunt you for the rest of your life. Based on a short story by Daphne du Maurier it tells the tale of Laura and John Baxter – a couple struggling to come to terms with the accidental death of their daughter Christine. When they travel to Venice on business they encounter a psychic who warns them of danger and then begin to experience a mysterious series of events that seem to point to their daughter having returned from the dead…
The film’s director Nic Roeg began his movie career as a cinematographer on such films as Lawrence of Arabia. His directing debut Performance is groundbreaking and extraordinary and he would go on to make some of the key films of the era including Walkabout, The Man Who Fell To Earth and Bad Timing.
Don’t Look Now portrays Venice in winter with a beautiful and restrained palette of blues and greys but also uses the colour red in a striking and psychologically chilling way. The editing style of the film, like many others made by Roeg, plays with time and events to create an intriguing jigsaw puzzle that is solved only at the very end.
Don’t Look Now was the subject of some controversy at the time because of a long and graphic sex scene – this remains one of the most affecting and realistic depictions of lovemaking in cinema.
