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Don’t Look Now, released in 1973, confirmed director Nicolas Roeg as one of the
most stylish and innovative British directors of the postwar period. Adapted
from a short story by Daphne du Maurier, it is both a complex study of how
people come to terms with grief and a chilling tale of murder set among the
canals and churches of Venice. Featuring telling performances by Julie Christie
and Donald Sutherland as the couple whose daughter has tragically died,
Don’t Look Now depicts the way in which the macabre and the everyday are
intertwined.
In his lucid, subtle account, Mark Sanderson describes the collaboration
between director and actors that sustained the film’s emotional richness.
He returns to du Maurier’s original text and to the traditions of Gothic writing
that underpin Don’t Look Now’s combination of horror, melodrama and black
comedy. Sanderson examines the film’s intricate visual style, uncovering the
way in which particular motifs are used to amplify its depiction of two terrible
deaths. He finds compensation for the film’s grimly fatalistic view of life in its
celebration of sexual relationships and the power of recollection. The book
includes an exclusive and in-depth interview with Roeg as well as rare and
unpublished comments from Christie.
In his foreword to this special edition, published to celebrate the 20th
anniversary of the BFI Film Classics series, Jason Wood places Don’t Look Now
in the context of Roeg’s film-making careeer, and draws upon Roeg’s revealing
insights into the film’s production.
