258. Don't Look Now; movie review
Cert 15
105 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong sex, violence, injury detail
It's the most famous or infamous sex scene in the history of cinema - but, no, Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie did not actually get it on during Don't Look Now.
It has been claimed in books by well-respected authors that the nearly five-minute session was the real thing. Both actors have since denied it.
Nevertheless, it is certainly raunchy if you like that sort of thing.
Sutherland and Christie's rumpy-pumpy is juxtaposed to the increasing frisson of tension between the pair as they play bereaved parents of a child who dies in a garden pond.
They move to Italy thinking that the new start might be cathartic but they are both separately haunted by the past.
Sutherland plays an archaeologist who specialises in the reconstruction of buildings which give Don't Look Now an eerie Venetian backdrop.
Christie becomes obsessed with seeing her beloved daughter again and becomes susceptible to the powers of persuasion of two sisters (Hilary Mason, Celia Matania) who claim to be in touch with the young girl's spirit.
Nicolas Roeg's movie is surreal at times but it touches a raw nerve in its approach to bereavement.
Christie's character, Laura Baxter, yields to her desperation to see her lost child again - hoping, irrationally, that she can somehow be brought back to life.
This leads to her being at odds with her husband who is trying to move on from the tragedy but finds himself being drawn into his wife's obsession.
And then there is Venice - with its evocative buildings and sculptures which ooze foreboding.
I can't recall watching Don't Look Now previously but I was hooked from the opening drowning scene.
It may be quite arty but it is directed with great precision by Roeg and, in Christie and Sutherland, he benefited from two of the most alluring actors of the day - even if they didn't have real sex.
Reasons to avoid: Rather melodramatic by today's standards
Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: Offscreen
Nudity: Yes
Overall rating: 8.5/10
Did you know? A stuntman was supposed to stand in for Donald Sutherland in the chapel scene but refused. Sutherland agreed to do it himself and only later discovered the true danger of the situation as the wire holding him was not stable and could’ve snapped at any second.
The final word. Donald Sutherland: "I don’t know about Julie, but I’m never naked in front of somebody! I’m not even naked in front of my children. I’m naked in front of my wife — that’s it. I was shy. For a couple of very specific reasons, she was physically shy. But we got over our shyness, went into the room, and were standing like Adam and Eve waiting for somebody to give us an apple."
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