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 The book includes an exclusive and in-depth interview with Roeg as well as rare and unpublished comments from Christie.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.