BRIAN DE PALMA
Bil’s rating (out of 5): BBBB.
USA, 1972. American International Pictures, Pressman-Williams. Story by Brian De Palma, Screenplay by Brian De Palma, Louisa Rose. Cinematography by Gregory Sandor. Produced by Edward R. Pressman. Music by Bernard Herrmann. Production Design by Gary Weist. Film Editing by Paul Hirsch.
Margot Kidder plays identical twins who were once conjoined but, a year before this film takes place, were separated. One of them, Danielle, is a model who left native Quebec for New York to pursue her modelling career. Her sister Dominique isn’t quite as fortunate, still shut up in the hospital where they were raised thanks to a tendency to be something of a psychotic murderer. You could just imagine how unfortunate it is when Danielle’s one-night stand sleeps with the right one and wakes up with the other. Thankfully, an ambitious reporter (Jennifer Salt) living across the street witnesses everything from her apartment and decides she will stop at nothing before proving that she actually saw a murder take place. This terrific psychological horror film liberally references Hitchcock, Franju and about a million other films, but as with all early De Palma, does it with great style and vigor. Kidder is wonderful, and Bernard Herrmann’s score is gorgeous.
