Don't Look Now

Julie Christie Director: Nicolas Roeg Nicolas Roeg

Overview

A married couple is haunted by a series of mysterious occurrences after the death of their young daughter in this enigmatic chiller. Based on a story by Daphne du Maurier, whose works inspired Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca and The Birds, the film centers on Laura and John Baxter (Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie), who have recently relocated to Venice so that John can oversee the architectural restoration of an old church. Both hope that the change of environment will allow them to forget the recent tragic demise of their child, but they instead find themselves surrounded by reminders of death, as the city attempts to deal with a series of unexplained murders. The eeriness intensifies when they encounter a blind psychic and her eccentric sister, who promise to contact her daughter's spirit. Laura embraces the idea, but John remains skeptical until he experiences his own visions: fleeting glimpses of someone in a red coat similar to one that belonged to his daughter.

Product Details

Release Date:	02/10/2015
UPC:	0715515136716
Original Release:	1973
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen, Color]
Time:	1:50:00
Sales rank:	21,549

Special Features

New 4K digital restoration, approved by director Nicolas Roeg, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack; 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; PLUS: an essay by film critic David Thompson

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Julie Christie	Laura Baxter
Donald Sutherland	John Baxter
Hilary Mason	Heather
Clelia Matania	Wendy
Massimo Serato	Bishop Barbarigo
Renato Scarpa	Inspector Longhi
Bruno Cattaneo	Detective Sabbione
Adelina Poerio	Dwarf
Ann Rye	Mandy Babbage
Nicholas Salter	Johnny Baxter
David Tree	Anthony Babbage
Giorgio Trestini	Workman
Leopoldo Trieste	Hotel Manager
Sharon Williams	Christine Baxter

Technical Credits

Chris Bryant

Allan Scott

Nicolas Roeg	Director
Giovanni Soccol	Art Director
Anthony Richmond	Cinematographer
Marit Allen	Costumes/Costume Designer
Pino Donaggio	Score Composer
Chris Bryant	Screenwriter
Allan Scott	Screenwriter
Daphne du Maurier	Source Author
Francesco Cinieri	Asst. Director
Graeme Clifford	Editor
Anthony B. Unger	Executive Producer
Peter Katz	Producer

Editorial Reviews

Venice is definitely not for lovers in Nicolas Roeg's 1973 gothic chiller. Based on a Daphne du Maurier short story, Don't Look Now tells the story of a married couple, superbly portrayed by Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland, whose to visit that romantic Italian city is tainted by their grief over their recently deceased daughter. Their stay in the familiar tourist destination takes on a nightmarish aura as they are overcome by eerie, synchronistic forebodings of worse things to come. Roeg unfolds the narrative slowly, with a subliminal seductiveness that gives sinister undertones to the simplest gestures and creates an overpowering aura of lurking danger. The wounded couple appears emotionally frozen in the aftermath of their loss, and they are believably susceptible to a blind old woman who claims to have visions of their daughter. But Venice is the real star here. It is not the sunny Italian playground of movies like Summertime or A Little Romance but the menacing city of films like Paul Schrader’s The Comfort of Strangers and, of course, Visconti’s Mahler-soaked adaptation of Death in Venice. Roeg presents Venice as a great, ancient maze, its gray decay freighted with Jungian archetypes and psychological metaphors. The result is one of the most enigmatic and unsettling thrillers of all time.

Barnes & Noble - Gregory Baird

Director Nicolas Roeg made several puzzling, complex films in his prime; Don't Look Now is one of his most enigmatic and certainly his spookiest. Roeg masterfully plays with psychological themes and Venice's labyrinthine settings, using images of a red-coated figure scurrying along the canals to create an almost unbearable emotional intensity. Based on a short story by Daphne Du Maurier, Don't Look Now succeeds far better than more complex horror stories in taunting the viewer's nerves. It is never grisly, but uses dense atmospherics and a dazzlingly firm directorial hand to create a fascinating exploration of the supernatural. It is a far better film than many more popular films of the genre that feature children and psychic or supernatural links.

All Movie Guide

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