The first time I saw Nicolas Roeg‘s Don’t Look Now was October 2008, as I was watching a slew of films in an effort to put together a list of my top ten scariest films. In the end, I came up with six, Don’t Look Now wasn’t one of them. I mention this because I initially watched this movie under the impression it was tremendously frightening. I had never seen it before, but everything I read about it spoke to how terrifying it was. I didn’t find it frightening in the least, not then and not now. However, revisiting it with this new Criterion Blu-ray release gave me a chance to watch it with different eyes and I found myself appreciating it a bit more. Granted, I still can’t bring myself to say I’m an overall fan of the picture, but watching it without the expectation it will be something it isn’t, as well as having a wealth of valuable supplemental material has given this film something of a new life in my eyes, certainly a new appreciation.
The film begins as John and Laura Baxter (Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie) experience the sudden death of their young daughter. Jump cut to some time later, the Baxters have taken a trip to Venice, Italy as John has some business assisting in the restoration of a church. The loss of their daughter still fresh in their minds, Laura’s solemnity turns to acceptance after meeting a pair of sisters, one of which claims to be psychic and tells Laura she saw their deceased daughter and she’s happy in the after life and doesn’t wish her mother to be sad. This news comforts Laura while John blows it off, all the while acknowledging his wife seems much happier. From here, the story takes some darker turns.
[amz asin=”B00PVBCMMW” size=”small”]Now that is possibly the most straight-forward way in introducing you to a movie that is not in the least bit straight-forward and is instead an exercise in exploring cosmic coincidence. Edited to its last breath, Don’t Look Now is an ever-changing narrative of which Roeg approached with the thematic motivation that “nothing is as it seems”. The question is to wonder if this is a theme the audience should be aware of as much as the characters?
In one of the many included pieces of supplemental material, editor Graeme Clifford describes it as an “exercise in film grammar” and in an included Q&A with Roeg the discussion begins by exploring the differences between film and literature and what can be accomplished with one versus the other and yet accomplish the same things. Clifford’s editing is vital to the film’s energy and in that sense you could say it’s as much his as it is Roeg’s as the two combined their powers to explore the lengths to which you could stretch this so-called “film grammar”.
Don’t Look Now was adapted by Allan Scott and Chris Bryant from a short story by Daphne du Maurier and in the same Q&A I just mentioned, Roeg speaks of a letter he received from du Maurier after she saw the film, not condoning the adaptation because he had changed her story to fit the film’s needs, but to tell him he had managed to capture the essence of John and Laura. Her concern wasn’t with narrative changes, but with the intrinsic nature of these characters.
To hear Roeg describe the letter he paraphrased her: “Your couple reminded me so much of the couple I saw some years ago in Torcello. They were having lunch and they seemed like such a handsome pair, so much in love, but seemed to have some terrible problem. They seemed terribly sad…” Roeg was not only flattered, but finds it interesting in that “What moved me in her story wasn’t what moved her to write the story.” Yet, between the two of them they managed to capture the same characters and to read du Maurier’s novella the introduction of John and Laura is quite different, they are far happier, but once she introduces us to the idea they’ve lost a child the tone of the piece, quite naturally, darkens, though once Laura is convinced the sister saw her deceased child you come to learn just how spot on Julie Christie was with her performance and how she captured the elation of Laura upon hearing the psychic’s words.
And this is just the beginning when it comes to exploring the inner-workings of this film and its approach to extrasensory perception, an approach Donald Sutherland discusses in an interview piece believing — spoiler ahead — John’s ability should have saved his life, not caused his death. Arguing with Roeg over the matter Sutherland says Roeg said to him, “Do you want to do the film or not?”
Oh, and for any of you still wondering whether the sex scene between Sutherland and Christie was real or simulated, here’s how Sutherland tells it:
“Any question, that there was any kind of reality to that, forget about. Because Julie and I, we had hardly met and we were standing naked and we walked like two people going into a death chamber into this room with a bed [and we were] traumatized, but eager to do whatever Nic needed. And he and Tony were in there alone with cables going out, and there’s no sound on it at all. The actions were very short, cut in seconds. It would be like, ‘Julie, tilt your head back. Move your head toward Julie’s ear. [Makes loud, whirring sound of an unblimped Aeroflex camera]…'”
Christie, however, does have an interesting comment regarding the much talked about sex scene. She describes Roeg’s approach to it as objective, rather than subjective, which is where it receives its power and realism. It’s not this fantasy, made up movie idea of what sex is like, but instead how it really is, how it really happens. And the inter-cutting with the couple getting dressed afterwards only adds to the familiarity and intensity for the viewing audience. Christie’s description of it is simple and to the point, “You don’t exist, it’s just bodies.”
When it comes to all the features I’m referring to, here’s a list of what’s included:
- New 4K digital restoration, approved by director Nicolas Roeg, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- New conversation between editor Graeme Clifford and film writer and historian Bobbie O’Steen
- “Don’t Look Now,” Looking Back, a short 2002 documentary featuring Roeg, Clifford, and cinematographer Anthony Richmond
- Death in Venice, a 2006 interview with composer Pino Donaggio
- Something Interesting, a new piece on the writing and making of the film, featuring recent interviews with Richmond, actors Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland, and coscreenwriter Allan Scott
- Nicolas Roeg: The Enigma of Film, a new piece on Roeg’s style, featuring recent interviews with filmmakers Danny Boyle and Steven Soderbergh
- Q&A with Roeg from 2003 at London’s Ciné Lumière
- Trailer
- An essay by film critic David Thompson
If I had one complaint, while Criterion says the release was approved by Roeg, it’s a bit upsetting not to see a new interview with him included. The conversation with Clifford, however, is my favorite feature on the whole release as he gets deep into discussing the film’s editing.
I still can’t say I love Don’t Look Now, but I have to admit this second viewing caused the movie to grow on me greatly. Perhaps it was merely that initial assumption of what it would be that affected me. I had a similar issue with The Night of the Hunter the first time I saw it and I’d read how scary it was. The word “scary” being used for both films should always be in quotes. Both are unsettling films and both for dramatically different reasons. Personally, Night of the Hunter is one of the best films ever made, and who knows, maybe in a few years I’ll grow closer to believing so is Don’t Look Now.
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