Don't Look Now

Plot synopsis:
Some time after the drowning of their young daughter, Christine (Sharon Williams), in a tragic accident at their English country home, John Baxter (Donald Sutherland) and his grief-stricken wife, Laura (Julie Christie), take a trip to Venice after John accepts a commission from a bishop (Massimo Serato) to restore an ancient church. Laura encounters two elderly sisters, Heather (Hilary Mason) and Wendy (Clelia Matania), at a restaurant where she and John are dining; Heather claims to be psychic and—despite being blind—informs Laura she is able to "see" the Baxters' deceased daughter. Shaken, Laura returns to her table, where she faints.
Laura is taken to the hospital, where she later tells John what Heather told her. John is sceptical but pleasantly surprised by the positive change in Laura's demeanour. Later in the evening after returning from the hospital, John and Laura engage in passionate sexual intercourse. Afterwards, they go out to dinner where they get lost and briefly become separated. John catches a glimpse of what appears to be a small child (Adelina Poerio) wearing a red coat similar to the one Christine was wearing when she died.
The next day, Laura meets with Heather and Wendy, who hold a séance to try to contact Christine. When she returns to the hotel Laura informs John that Christine has said he is in danger and must leave Venice. John loses his temper with Laura, but that night they receive a telephone call informing them that their son (Nicholas Salter) has been injured in an accident at his boarding school. Laura departs for England, while John stays on to complete the restoration. Under the assumption that Laura is in England, John is shocked when later that day he spots her on a boat that is part of a funeral cortege, accompanied by the two sisters. Concerned about his wife's mental state and with reports of a serial killer at large in Venice, he reports Laura's disappearance to the police. The inspector (Renato Scarpa) investigating the killings is suspicious of John and has him followed.
After conducting a futile search for Laura and the sisters—in which he again sees the childlike figure in the red coat—John contacts his son's school to enquire about his condition, only to discover Laura is already there. After speaking to her to confirm she really is in England, a bewildered John returns to the police station to inform the police he has found his wife. In the meantime the police have brought Heather in for questioning, so an apologetic John offers to escort her back to the hotel.
Shortly after returning, Heather slips into a trance so John makes his excuses and quickly leaves. Upon coming out of it she beseeches her sister to go after John, sensing that something terrible is about to happen, but Wendy is unable to catch up with him. Meanwhile, John catches another glimpse of the mysterious figure in red and this time pursues it. He corners the elusive figure in a deserted palazzo and approaches it, believing it to be a child. Instead, it is revealed to be a hideous female dwarf, and while John is frozen in terror the dwarf pulls out a meat cleaver and cuts his throat. As the life drains from him, John realises too late that the strange sightings he has been experiencing were premonitions of his own murder and funeral.

Tags: gothic, paranormal, cult, atmospheric, flashback, psychedelic, suspenseful

Review:
Living in Venice, in light of the details surrounding their loss, seems almost a perverse choice, perhaps a masochistic one; they could be punishing themselves for their daughter's drowning by living in a flooded city.It's not that Sutherland's character is a rational man in an irrational environment, but rather a rational man in an environment whose own secret code, which one may trust makes perfect sense to itself (like a tree in the forest that will only fall if no one is around to hear), is inaccessible and inexplicable to him, baring itself only in fragments in a way he chooses to ignore, just as you might ignore a spectral voice in the dead of night, dismissing it as a product of your imagination.The movie's notorious love scene is jarringly explicit, yet rather than erotic, it is profoundly sad, and takes on a deeper (even creepy) resonance after the film ends.
Don't Look Now, however, is a film which cannot fail to last long in the mind.It is easy to love the film for its rare depth of character, its beautiful yet disturbing plot, the stunning Venice setting, the tender and original love scene or just for Donald Sutherland's never-rivalled wig!
It always sounds like a cliche when some obsessed fan tells you a film haunted them for days but Don't Look Now has a curious effect on the viewer.
Don't Look Now attempts to go where a lot of movies had never been, which was a realm where many things never truly make sense and yet behind it all is a coherent purpose.First of it is *not* a candidate for greatest horror film ever, though the Times would have you believe otherwise.
What it *is* though is a highly confusing yet thought-provoking story which covers grief and dillusion in equal measure.Donald Sutherland plays John Baxter, who's married to Laura, who lose a child in an accident and find their worlds turned upside-down as a result.
However, thereafter the story is set in Venice where John's working on a job and Laura's accompanied him there, and where things start to get disturbing for the couple as events begin to focus on their dead daughter and paranormal themes emerge.It *is* a strange tale, and ultimately what you get out of it is entirely up to you.
I think it is bad luck that "Don't Look Now" was released in the same year as "The Exorcist", or else this might be a better known and more appreciated one of a kind masterpiece."Don't Look Now" is an horror movie but not one like you would expect it to be.
On my second viewing, not too long ago I was prepared for the ending but it still was a very scary thing to watch!The storytelling might seem slow but it works perfect for the movie and its tension.
Without a doubt, it contains one of the most beautiful loves scenes ever filmed, showing scenes of Christie and Sutherland in genuinely erotic (by '70's standards) lovemaking, mixed with scenes of the couple as they dress and prepare for their day, the following morning.
Usually, films like this annoy me because they obviously want to portray the horror, but skirt around it in order to not be put in with the less intelligent offerings from the genre; but this one clearly cares about it's story and characters, and never really sets out to scare.
He and his wife then move to picturesque Venice, but the memory of their daughter cannot be laid to rest after a blind psychic tells the woman that she has seen her daughter may still be alive.I love the horror genre, but I admit that a large proportion of it can't be compared among the true classics of cinema due largely to a lack of production values, good acting or a decent script that is coherent with the story and characters.
The acting is first rate, with Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie giving brilliant brooding performances that are in line with their characters and the film's plot.
The director would have done better to follow the original story a bit closer - if you haven't read it, you'll be lost watching this mess and you'll have to be content with enjoying on-location footage of early 1970s Venice, Italy, which is one of this film's few redeeming qualities..
I found the acting from Julie Christie to be incredibly wooden (a blank look on her face most of the time), Donald Sutherland was slightly better but his ridiculous hairstyle didn't help.
"Don't Look Now", a film responsible in many ways for my becoming a film buff, is such a film, not for its 'disturbing' or gory content, but for its subtle suggestions, insinuations, and especially for the thick, tense, gloomy atmosphere that director Nicolas Roeg so brilliantly creates and maintains.By consistently maintaining "Don't Look Now" as a character-driven script with recurring themes and motifs the writers of this film, Allan Scott and Chris Bryant who adapted their screenplay from the short story by Daphne DuMaurier (Rebecca), ensure that the 'jump moments' are never hollow or empty.
Some of the acting is (deliberately) exaggerated for effect and mostly excellent.With its creepy atmosphere, innovative editing, strong characters, good writing, and brilliant, unsettling final montage, "Don't Look Now" is director Nicolas Roeg's finest accomplishment and is deservedly regarded as one of the finest British films of all time, but I'd go a bit further and say it is likely a strong contender for the title of best British film, period.
He, however, seems to have his own psychic flashes, seeing their daughter walk the streets in her red cloak, as well as Laura and the sisters on a funeral gondola...I had big expectations watching this film since it's hold as cult classic but, by the end, I was bewildered by what I had just watched.
They run into a blind psychic and her sister, and their encounters with them bring Christie some solace about her daughter, but send Sutherland into a paranoid spiral which culminates in him following who he thinks is his dead daughter into the bell tower of a church and then.....well, much hype has been built around the "shocking" ending to this movie, but let's just see if you give a damn about what happens by the time you get to it.My description of the plot makes it sound like it makes much more sense than it does when you're actually watching the film, because I've left out all of the utterly gratuitous and boring scenes that bring nothing to the party.
Director Nicholas Roeg never met a trendy 1970s film trick that he didn't like, and so this movie is full of zooms, both in and out, jarring camera work and harsh, ear-splitting sound effects.
This is an assemblage of disconnected scenes badly in need of a story.The most frightening thing about "Don't Look Now" is the extended love-making scene that assaults us with a fully nude Donald Sutherland.
Let me start by saying that any Roeg film is worth watching(the guy could shoot a bowl of soup and create tension)."The Man Who Fell To Earth",and "Walkabout" are personal favorites of mine,the whole theme of alienation and the inexorable change produced by a collision of world psychologies being a natural for Roeg.Instead of super-sensitive alien out to rescue his planet from dehydration(which is really an optional pretext,the film not really being about that),or the primal awakenings of two young Australian kids left to their own devices in the outback by their psychotic father,forging a life-changing relationship with an aboriginal boy,"Don't Look Now" is essentially the story of a man whose devotion to detail and rationality blinds him to the psychogenic realm,and his own inherent ability to see into it,that he ends up dying a gruesome and bizarrely unpredictable death.Why this man is punished by fate,or God,or by his own stubbornness is one of the most elusive metaphysical ideas I've ever seen in a film.I believe that contained in the moment,where Sutherland "sees" his daughter's drowning,AND the melting slide photo with the blood cascading from what at that point in the film we believe to be his daughter,in her plastic red raincoat,sitting in one of the pews in the picture of a church he'll soon be restoring,is the key to the mystery.An unholy parallelism seems to be hatched here-his very human,and TOTAL love and concern for his daughter has blinders on it(whose doesn't?),and any ominous clairvoyance on his part is relegated to his subconscious.In any case,this is a totally unique movie,and the strange sisters lend a great,modern Shakespearian feel to the film.Obviously,Roeg's cinematography is outstanding!.
There is a horrible echo in many scenes.Donald Sutherland looks like a walrus, but I guess that's the price of watching 70s movies.But the story is total nonsense.
The only scene worth mentioning is the sex scene, which contains enough nudity to offend anyone with a sense of decency, but not enough to impress people who want to see that sort of thing.I'm not going to spoil the ending for you, but after the movie dragged along for 2 hours, let's just say I was EXTREMELY disappointed.This movie should have been called Don't Watch Now. Or Later.
But if you sit down and watch the whole thing from beginning to end, then it probably won't live up to its reputation; repeated viewings will only reveal even more weaknesses.As a psychological study, the film doesn't succeed; the characters are cold and lack depth.
The film drops us into the life of a grieving married couple (who are played by Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie, and their performances are wonderful.
The film's most controversial sequence is the shocking sex scene with Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie.
Nicolas Roeg drama, patchily intense without being really absorbing, has married couple Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie grieving the death of their daughter; when a strange psychic tells them the deceased child is trying to contact them from beyond, Sutherland becomes obsessed with finding the truth.
In the days that follow, John starts glimpsing a small figure in a red raincoat, similar to the one their daughter was wearing at the time of the accident, as a serial killer runs amok, the Baxters are heading toward the day of revelation.Don't Look Now is based on a short story written by Daphne du Maurier, director Nicolas Roeg adapting it to create an eerie picture that fuses mysterious supernatural strands with meditations on fallible human emotions.
So many scenes linger long in the mind, be it striking images in the aftermath of a serial killers victim or the shuddering haunting climax as the plots intricacies come crashing together, all played out to Pino Donaaggio's poignantly perfect score.Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie play our bereaved parents quite magnificently, the chemistry is positively electric.
Much has been made of their love making scene in the picture, such is it's intensity and the brilliant way it's filmed, it has begged the question on if they really did make love on this occasion!, what isn't in doubt is that there is no titillation to be had here, it's one of the most beautiful filmed sex scenes to have ever been made, Roeg inter cutting it with the couple preparing to go out after the act of love making has finished.Don't Look Now is slowly paced, but that is its chief triumph, it begs you to pay attention and take in everything that is going on, from the slightest little detail to the jolting shock moments, all is relevant to make this a film that firmly rewards those patient enough to be lost in this creepy and enigmatic classic.
Based on the novel by Daphne Du Maurier and directed by Nicholas Roeg, Don't Look Now is a master class in suspense and horror, a film bound by a psychological tension that pulls at the viewer within seconds of the opening scene.
Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie play John and Laura Baxter whose young daughter drowns in a freak accident.
Don't Look Now also has a great story, it has a touch of poignancy, but it scores best when it is shocking and atmospheric, one scene in particular involving the figure in the red cloak affected me so much I couldn't sleep for days when I first saw it.
Title: Don't Look Now (1973) Director: Nicolas Roeg (The Witches) Cast: Donald Sutherland, Julie Christie Review: Horror movies from the seventies.
I will be adding Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now to my "serious horror films of the 70s" list.This is the story of a man John Baxter and his wife Laura who loose their daughter in an unexpected drowning accident.
I loved his character in the movie and it reminded me of a time when serious adult actors were used in films.
There's a hallucinatory dream-like vibe to all of Johns visions that adds to the surreal feel of the film.So in conclusion, you got yourself a slow burner 70's psychological thriller, with a spooky setting, great performances and a stylish direction from director Nicolas Roeg.
I didn't know what to expect when I watched this in 16:9 but after the viewing there is only word that describes this piece of art, A Masterpiece.The photography and framing is fantastic, especially the former, the film looks real and Venice never looked so gothic.
"Don't Look Now" is a modern masterpiece, truly different and more intelligent than any other horror film you're likely to see.
I think I have seen a decent share of horror films that offer big moments of silence and so-called clever symbolism and subtle details that somehow help to build a solid story.
I'm sure this comment will be voted as NOT useful several times by people who support this film and think I'm just an airhead who didn't get it, but that's all right I can live with that ;) (My five stars, mostly are due to the locations and a couple of eerie moments that made the whole thing endurable somehow)..
That to me stands in the way of calling a movie a masterpiece...As for the story, well, like it not: it makes no sense.The acting may be good, but it's hard to tell with such bad direction, and with asynchrone sound...I really wanted to add my comment because I can imagine the disappointment of the person who goes out and buy the DVD on account of the good reviews in here.My advice to you is: try and watch it first, or read more about it before buying it..
I mean that it is not bad at all, there is an excellent (as  usual) Donald Sutherland, a good score, some interesting scenes, Venice looks beautiful (is this a special merit by the director??), but the story is not so great, the famous erotic scene is nowadays quite conventional and anyway not so necessary to the movie, and the thrill or suspence is not that great at all...
The reason I watched this film was because I commented to someone that I liked Daphne du Maurier's short stories better than her novels, particularly Don't Look Now, and this person told me they had made a movie of it--I hadn't known that.
I had The Third Man's Vienna in mind when I saw this film because the labyrinth-like atmosphere of Vienna reminded me so much of Venice in this movie.
Honestly, after this movie you get the impression that Venice is a city inhabited by ghosts, murderers and freaks, is always dirty and dark and if you visit it you cannot be sure to get out of it alive.I liked some moments and the ending, for it gave away the twist, but my personal highlight of this film is Julie Christie whom I have never seen in a movie before.
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.
With "Don't Look Now", the filmed version of Daphne Du Maurier's short story, Nicolas Roeg delivers a horror movie of the very different kind.
Notable assets are also a carefully plotted colors scheme, intelligent cinematography and groundbreaking scenes that show what exemplary editing and cutting can do to elevate a film way above its competitors."Don't Look Now" leads up to one of the most shocking climaxes in horror film history and will catch you most likely coming from left field.
Recommendable for those who like their mysteries slow, enjoy to (re-)discover how the mind works and still know why horror films of the olden days are the better choice..
Although "Don't Look Now" is probably most noted for it's graphic sex scene between Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie, this film has much more to offer.
Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie are both excellent in the film, they play their characters believably and well.
Overall, "Don't Look Now" is an above-average thriller with first-rate performances from both Sutherland and Christie, and an eerie atmosphere with a great story.
Despite its art-house sensibilities and slow pacing, I find it a truly stunning piece of work, not least in thanks to Nic Roeg's stunning cinematography which makes a derelict and run-down Venice a bigger character than any in the movie.Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie star as a couple in mourning for the death of their daughter who travel to Venice for the husband's job as a man who restores church artwork.
The clever script keeps viewers completely unaware of where the film is going to go next and the classic shock ending still gives many adults nightmares (actually cited in a number of textbooks as an early shock which still give people the "willies" if seen at an early age).Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie play extremely well off each other, a genuinely likable and believable couple; you really care about them.
Married couple Laura and John Baxter (Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland) are mourning the death of their daughter.