Don't Look Now (1973)

[workgeordie]

Finally, after my girlfriend and the guys at the videostore told me many times to see it, I finally watched Don't look now. I liked it despite Roeg's love for crash zooms and some strange editing however, I absolutely loved the love scene (and yes I meant to say love not sex), which was so beautifully shot and edited that I didn't even notice Donald Sutherland's lanky naked body.

However, I had troubles making sense out of the story. First I thought the story plays in parralel worlds with the girl in the red raincoat symoblising Julie Christie's character but then Donald was her brother and incest is not something I think Du Maurier intended to write about so I dismissed this thought quickly.

So how many of you saw it and want to share their ideas and how did you make sense out of the story?

[Hamatron]

I haven't seen this movie in about ten years or so, but I always took it as being about the end of a marriage/not being able to cope with the death of a child.

After their kid drowns in the opening (?) sequence the Donald Sutherland character is working on a project restoring a mosaic in a church-- a project that will most likely never be finished in Venice, a waterlogged city that is slowly sinking (Venice in reality is lovely, but in every movie I have seen taking place in Venice, Venice=slow, drawn out death).

Also, though the love scene, in all its 70s man-perm glory, is well shot, the way that the sex is chopped up and mixed in with separate shots of them getting ready-- it's almost framed as though they are alone, and it left me with a 'marriage going through the motions' feeling.

In then in the end, with the fucked-up killer dwarf-- I sort of took it as his inablilty to to let go, and he's basically chasing a memory, which ultimately does him in.

But I haven't seen the movie in awhile, so please forgive me if my impressions are a little wonky.

[pistachioofliberty]

I saw this in the theatre when it came out, and for years remembered only the bright red coat, and couldn't help thinking of it when I saw Schindler's List - if that was an homage to Roeg.

Also, just a personal note: when we sublet an apartment for a week in Venice, and in this was in the collection of videos. My husband had never seen it - so we got to watch in Venice! Sorry, I just thought was cool[/lame]

[Deleted]

First I thought the story plays in parralel worlds with the girl in the red raincoat symoblising Julie Christie's character but then Donald was her brother and incest is not something I think Du Maurier intended to write about so I dismissed this thought quickly.

I didn't really get this from the film or the short story, bu Du Maurier was pretty messed up and it wouldn't surprise me if she was subtly messing with taboos (in real life, her cousin was in love with her and she didn't return the affection, but she called him her "Borgia Brother" because of the incestuous rumors that plagued the Borgia family.) Incest as a theme? Not as implausable as you might think (imo, in any case).

I watched this movie after reading the short story (pretty much the same thing - killer dwarf, freaky sisters and all) and I sort of wish I hadn't known what was going to happen. Because the film is so layered and complex, I would have been over-thinking every little thing (even knowing what happened, I kept analyzing details), but I was just sort of waiting to see if the film ended like the story.

I also thought it was about the failure of a marriage to survive the death of a child. Sutherland seems to be set on moving on and Julie Christie is the one who seems to be clinging to the past but he is the one who becomes obsessed with the little figure in red. He sees things that he knows cannot be true (his wife in Venice after she has already returned to England) and it is his failure to put those visions/thoughts (whatever they are) to the side that ultimately leads to his death.

The reason this movie is awesome is because of the freaky sense of dread that permeates the film. The dwarf thing is a total WTF?!? but everything that comes before it is amazing.