Don’t Look Now
Directed by Nicolas Roeg
Written by Allan Scott and Chris Bryant from a story by Daphne Du Maurier
1973/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental
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Laura Baxter: This one who’s blind. She’s the one that can see.
Roeg uses his cinematographer’s eye to stun us with variations on the color red and the gritty side of Venice, Italy. All this beauty accompanies the well-acted, horrifying and tragic story of a couple trying to come to terms with the drowning death of their daughter.
John (Donald Sutherland) and Laura (Julie Christie) Baxter are a happily married couple living in England. John is a renowned church restorer. They have two children, Christine and Johnny. One day, Christine drowns in a pond on their property. John had a premonition and was running to his daughter before his son called out to him.
After an unspecified period of time, John and Laura put their son in boarding school and move to Venice, Italy where John is friendly with the local bishop and working hard on restoring a church dear to him. John is deeply immersed in his work so has that outlet but Laura is sad all the time.
One day, they are eating in a restaurant where two ladies are staring at them. One of the them has something in her eye and Laura offers to help. It is then that she discovers the two are sisters and the blind one is a psychic. The blind one tells Laura she saw her little girl sitting beside her and the girl was laughing and happy. This makes Laura like a new woman.
John believes the psychic is a fraud and discourages Laura from seeing the sisters. But Laura sneaks off anyway. The psychic tells Laura John is in great danger and should leave Venice immediately. John thinks this is hogwash. Then he starts having some very disturbing visions. I’ll stop here. The film has an unforgettable ending.
Everything about this movie is so well done. Roeg creates some fabulous montage sequences, including a notorious one in which we watch the Baxters make love intercut with their dressing for dinner. The Venice of this movie is not the tourist Venice but a city that is decaying with age, creating a really creepy mysterious atmosphere. The acting is perfect and the score is beautiful. Be prepared to endure some real tragedy along with your scares. Highly recommended.
