NICOLAS ROEG
Bil’s rating (out of 5): BBBB.
Italy/United Kingdom, 1973. Casey Productions, Eldorado Films, D.L.N. Ventures Partnership. Screenplay by Allan Scott, Chris Bryant, based on the story by Daphne Du Maurier. Cinematography by Anthony B. Richmond. Produced by Peter Katz. Music by Pino Donaggio. Production Design by Giovanni Soccol. Costume Design by Marit Allen, Anna Maria Feo, Andrea Galer. Film Editing by Graeme Clifford.
Supercool psychic thriller from the often imitated, never duplicated imagination of Nicolas Roeg. Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie play a couple who survive a tragedy when their little girl drowns in the river near their house. Some time later, they’re living in Venice while he works on the restoration of a cathedral and she is visited by a psychic blind woman who tells her that she has seen her daughter in the great beyond and can communicate with her. Things go from eerie to downright creepy as Christie becomes obsessed with finding out more about their little girl and Sutherland keeps seeing strange images that he can’t decipher until it’s too late. More of a chiller than an outright horror movie, this film has moments in it that are scary enough to make your blood go cold. Terrific performances and incredible photography.
The Criterion Collection: #745
