Don't Look Now patiently builds suspense with haunting imagery and a chilling score -- causing viewers to feel Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie's grief deep within.
Don't Look Now patiently builds suspense with haunting imagery and a chilling score -- causing viewers to feel Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie's grief deep within.
A married couple is haunted by a series of mysterious occurrences after the death of their young daughter in this enigmatic chiller. Based on a story by Daphne du Maurier, whose works inspired Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca and The Birds, the film centers on Laura and John Baxter (Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie), who have recently relocated to Venice so that John can oversee the architectural restoration of an old church. Both hope that the change of environment will allow them to forget the
recent tragic demise of their child, but they instead find themselves surrounded by reminders of death, as the city attempts to deal with a series of unexplained murders. The eeriness intensifies when they encounter a blind psychic and her eccentric sister, who promise to contact her daughter's spirit. Laura embraces the idea, but John remains skeptical until he experiences his own visions: fleeting glimpses of someone in a red coat similar to one that belonged to his daughter. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi
Like some manic slasher on the loose, Nic Roeg cuts compulsively, severing the natural arteries between cause and effect to expose a more irrational kind of narrative continuum...a true classic, worth looking at not just now but long into the future.
Don't Look Now brilliantly portrays the loves and losses we all experience, our here and now dictated by the fallibility of human nature and the cruelties of time.
A natureza onírica e labiríntica do filme é bem representada por Veneza, criando um clima de constante inquietação, mas a direção soa datada e o roteiro não consegue fugir das convenções do gênero, desperdiçando a ótima dinâmica do casal principal.
In England, John (Donald Sutherland) and Laura Baxter (Julie Christie) lose their beloved daughter. Christine (Sharon Williams) drowned in a lake at their home. They move to Venice and leave their son John (Nicholas Salter) in a boarding school. While working in the restoration of a church, John has lunch with Laura
that is not fully recovered of her loss and she helps an old lady in the restaurant with a speck of dust in her left eye. Her blind sister that claims to be psychic advises Laura that she can see her daughter happy and close to them; and that John who is also psychic must leave Venice since he is in danger. Laura feels happy with the revelation but the skeptic John does not believe in the elderly sisters. Meanwhile a serial-killer is killing people in Venice. When Laura and John are called during the night by the director of the boarding school telling that John had had a minor accident, Laura travels in the morning to London to see their son. Meanwhile John has an accident in the scaffold in the church and while going back to the hotel, he sees Laura and the sisters on a funeral gondola. Further he glances somebody wearing the red clock with hood that Christine wore when she died. John decides to investigate whether the sisters have abducted his wife and to follow the person with the red cloak with tragic discoveries.
"Don't Look Now" is one of the most beautiful and stylish films I have ever seen. In the 70's, the former cinematographer Nicolas Roeg was in the beginning and the also in the top of his career. This outstanding cult-movie is impressive, with a fragmented narrative and a stunning cinematography. Julie Christie is extremely beautiful and Donald Sutherland is perfect as usual in the role of a couple traumatized by the loss of their beloved daughter, great performances from both here. The screenplay discloses locations that show the decay of Venice, giving sadness to the story. I highly recommend this film but I do understand it might not be to everyones taste. Its a slower paced film by todays standards so if you have a short attention span this might not be for you.
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