DON'T LOOK NOW (1973) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

don't look now(1973) movie

Genre              |   Mystery Drama

Classification   |   MA 15+

Running time   |   110 minutes

Released         |   16 October 1973
                              (United Kingdom)

cast

Donald Sutherland ... John Baxter
Julie Christie ... Laura Baxter
Hilary Mason ... Heather
Clelia Matania ... Wendy
Massimo Serato ... Bishop Barbarrigo
​Renato Scarpa ... Inspector Longhi

director

Nicholas Roeg

writer

​Daphne Du Maurier ... (story)
 
Allan Scott ... (screenplay) (as Alan Scott) and
Chris Bryant ... (screenplay)

cinematographer

​Anthony B. Richmond

music

​Pino Donaggio

film editor

​Graeme Clifford

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box office result

Worldwide             $​​​​​​​​​108,000

Australia                 $​​​​​ not available

North America       $​​​​​​​​​​​​ not available

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movie minutiae

​When he appeared on Inside the Actors Studio (1994), Donald Sutherland recounted the story of how the (In)famous sex scene was actually shot and that it was anything but a sexy or erotic experience for those involved. He and Julie Christie were on the set at 7 a.m. in dressing gowns, waiting downstairs while the room was prepared and both had a glass of champagne to calm their nerves. Inside the room was Nicolas Roeg and cinematographer Anthony B. Richmond, each operating their own Mitchell 35mm camera. Sutherland and Chiststie disrobed and got onto the bed and Roeg and Richmond began filming. The huge Mitchell cameras were unblimped (unsilenced) and as the room was oak panelled the noise from the two cameras was amplified hugely. At the same time, Roeg began shouting directions (over the noise of the cameras)to the actors such as "Lick her nipples" "Put your hand between her legs" "Get on top" etc.The shoot lasted until well into the afternoon before Roeg was satisfied and wrapped.

​Filming the scene in which John almost falls to his death while restoring the mosaic in San Nicolò church was also beset by problems, and resulted in Donald Sutherland's life being put in danger. The scene entailed some of the scaffolding collapsing leaving John dangling by a rope, but the stuntman refused to perform the stunt because the insurance was not in order. Sutherland ended up doing it instead, and was attached to a kirby wire as a precaution in case he should fall. Some time after the film had come out, renowned stunt co-ordinator Vic Armstrong commented to Sutherland that the wire was not designed for that purpose, and the twirling around caused by holding on to the rope would have damaged the wire to the extent it would have snapped if Sutherland had let go.

​The only disagreement over the musical direction of the film was for the score accompanying the love scene. Pino Donaggio composed a grand orchestral piece, but Nicolas Roeg thought the effect was overkill, and wanted it toned down. In the end the scene just used a combination of the piano, the flute, an acoustic guitar and an acoustic bass guitar. The piano was played by Donaggio again, who also played the flute; in contrast to his skill as a pianist, Donaggio was a renowned flautist, famous for it at the conservatory. Donaggio conceded that the more low-key theme worked better in the sequence and ditched the high strings orchestral piece, reworking it for the funeral scene at the end of the film.

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related movies

THE WICKER MAN ​(1973)

DON'T LOOK NOW (1973) MOVIE IMAGES

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DON'T LOOK NOW (1973) STORY SYNOPSIS

​Still grieving over the accidental death of their daughter, Christine (Sharon Williams), John (Donald Sutherland) and Laura Baxter (Julie Christie) head to Venice, Italy, where John's been commissioned to restore a church. There Laura meets two sisters (Hilary Mason, Clelia Matania) who claim to be in touch with the spirit of the Baxters' daughter. Laura takes them seriously, but John scoffs until he himself catches a glimpse of what looks like Christine running through the streets of Venice.

DON'T LOOK NOW (1973) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 16 October 2016

​​Pop Movee Rating

DON’T LOOK NOW, by the very nature of its story, sets out to be obtuse from its opening moments and maintains that approach until the closing credits. Based on Daphne Du Maurier’s novel, Allan Scott and Chris Bryant adapted the renowned English author’s work for the screen under the supervision of Director Nicolas Roeg.

The film was Roeg’s third as a director, but his apprenticeship in the English film industry, first as an Editor and then Cinematographer, had well and truly prepared him to handle the narrative challenges of a story such as DON’T LOOK NOW.

The casting of Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie in the lead roles was an added bonus, as the two actors were keen to work with Roeg because of his reputation as a Cinematographer. Their natural chemistry is evident on the screen and ensures the more “fantastic” aspects of the story don't allow the film to be overwhelmed by the strange events surrounding the pair.

The film opens at their home in England, where John Baxter (Sutherland) and Laura Baxter (Christie) are going about their business, while their children play outside in the large grounds of their estate. John senses something is wrong and rushes outside to find the couple’s young daughter floating lifeless lay in the lake near their house and despite his best efforts he is unable to save his young child.

The despair of her death sees the couple escape to Venice, where John buries himself in his job of restoring one of the city’s sinking churches. Laura, without the distraction of a project, has slipped into a deep morass, wracked by grief and is searching for something that is beyond her reach to help give her life renewed meaning.

An act of kindness brings Laura into contact with a pair of Middle-aged sisters who are holidaying in Venice. Wendy (Clelia Matania) and Heather (Hilary Mason) exhibit an air of strangeness right from the beginning, as Laura notices them while she and John are having breakfast one morning. Wendy gets something in her eye and Heather appears to be doing an awful job of helping, so Laura decides to offer assistance when she sees the pair go to the bathroom to wash out Wendy’s eye.

Laura discovers that Heather is blind (limiting the assistance she is able to render her sister), but she reveals that she can see Laura’s daughter Christine sitting with her and John at the table. Laura says that is not possible because her daughter is dead, but Wendy explains that her sister (despite being blind) is clairvoyant. Desperate to be relieved of her grief, Laura believes that what Heather has told her is true and rushes back to inform John. Overwhelmed by the news, Laura collapses in the dining room after telling John that Heather is able to see Christine.

As the story unfolds, the viewer comes to see that John, despite not wanting to believe what Heather claims, has the gift of insight; while Laura, who wants to believe, has no perceptions beyond what others tell her. John’s insights become more powerful the longer the story progresses. To add to the mystery, John continues to see a small figure in the same red raincoat that Christine was wearing on the day she drowned. On several occasions throughout the film, John almost manages to catch up with this mysterious figure in the red raincoat, but. It remains allusive throughout the story.

Laura’s developing relationship with the two sisters helps John to overcome his reticence to embrace his insights. This also leads to a breaking down of the psychological walls that John and Laura had built around themselves since their daughter’s death. The return of the intimacy to their relationship is captured in an extended bout of lovemaking that provided the film with a degree of notoriety at the time for its explicitness. Sutherland and Christie certainly don't hold back in their efforts and the presence of a camera is no inhibitor to their passion. Donald Sutherland has commented that every aspect of the scene was directed by Roeg and that only the Director, Cinematographer, Christie and him were present for its shooting. There is a sense though that this scene marks the high watermark of their relationship in terms of the film’s narrative and that there is something either psychologically or physically unsettling waiting for John and Laura.

Soon enough, they receive a call from their son’s boarding school in England to tell them he has had an accident. Laura decides to return to England that night and, immediately following her departure, John begins to experience strange occurrences.

The great trick of DON’T LOOK BACK is the way in which Roeg makes relatively mundane events feel visually unsettling. He and Cinematographer Anthony Richmond choose unconventional camera angles and use a great number of long shots to create a feeling that the events of the film are not quite connected with everyday reality. (DON’T LOOK NOW was recognised with a BAFTA Award for Cinematography in 1974, but won no other awards despite eight other nominations.)

The visual disorientation is well supported by the film’s screenplay, as writers Scott and Bryant seed their story with clues as to what may be happening but leave it to the audience to make the connections. Seemingly unrelated or unimportant events take on greater significance upon repeated viewings of the film and help to make sense of the film’s startling (at the time shocking) ending.

Depending upon how the viewer chooses to interpret the film, it can be argued that the ending was always going to happen the way it happened or it was simply a case of wrong place, wrong time. Roeg does take a position on this, but it’s best left to the viewer to agree or disagree with his choice; especially if they are seeing the film for the first time.

DON’T LOOK NOW has grown in reputation over the years and deservedly so.

It’s an inventive film that took a difficult story and made it accessible. The viewer has to do some work. This is not a film where the dots get connected and everyone gets to go home with the answers and a nice warm feeling. The creative decision that informs the film’s ending and the explicit sex scene are two reasons why the film has continued to appeal to audiences over the years, but the film’s theme is also key to  its endurance.

The core of the story is an examination about the concept of faith. John and Laura are tested, by the death of their daughter, to find what it is they truly believe in. John’s added insight is not presented as either a benefit or a liability, but his decision to try and understand it comes too late to prevent the events of the film’s climax.

DON’T LOOK NOW is a wonderful piece of cinema, informed by a European sensibility and is a great example of how to present an adult drama that pays the viewer respect and makes them contemplate their very being.

DON'T LOOK NOW (1973) USEFUL LINKS

Don't Look Now - Wikipedia
​Don't Look Now (1973) - IMDb
​Don't Look Now (1973) - Rotten Tomatoes​

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