Don't Look Now

Did You Know?

• The film changes the cause of Christine's death from meningitis (in du Maurier's novella) to drowning, and adds a prologue to exploit the water motif.
• Director Nicolas Roeg decided to have Donald Sutherland's character utter the line 'nothing is what it seems'—a scene which required fifteen takes.
• The film purposefully does not include subtitles for Italian dialogue, so viewers who do not understand Italian experience the same confusion as John.

Analysis

Don't Look Now is an occult-themed thriller that uses Gothic ghost story conventions to explore the minds of a grief-stricken couple. Director Nicolas Roeg was interested in making grief the sole thrust of the film, noting that grief can separate even the closest relationships. The deceased daughter Christine is constantly recalled through imagery: flashbacks of her in a red coat, sightings of a childlike figure in a similar coat, and water associated with death via a serial-killer subplot.

John fishes a child's doll from a canal, mirroring his earlier retrieval of his daughter's body. The film uses associative editing with recurring motifs to foreshadow events. In du Maurier's novella, Laura wears the red coat, but the film shifts the colour to Christine and the elusive figure. The cause of death was changed from meningitis to drowning, and a prologue was added to exploit the water motif.

The threat of falling is ever-present: Christine falls into a lake, Laura falls in a restaurant, their son Johnny falls at school, the bishop's father died in a fall, and John nearly falls during renovations. Glass frequently signals impending doom: John knocks over a glass before Christine drowns, Johnny breaks a pane, Laura knocks glassware when fainting, a plank shatters glass in the church, and John asks for a glass of water before confronting the red-clad figure.

Production

Don't Look Now was produced by Peter Katz and executive producer Anthony B. Unger through Casey Productions and Eldorado Films. Scriptwriter Allan Scott offered the script to Nicolas Roeg, co-written with Chris Bryant. Filming began in England in December 1972, broke for Christmas, and resumed in Italy for seven weeks in January 1973. Roeg wanted Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland from the start, though Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner were suggested.

Both actors became available unexpectedly. Christie liked the script and wanted to work with Roeg, who had been cinematographer on films she starred in. Sutherland had reservations about the negative depiction of clairvoyance, wanting a more educative film where characters benefit from ESP. Roeg resisted changes and issued an ultimatum.

Roeg took Christie to a séance with medium Leslie Flint in Notting Hill, where Flint instructed guests to uncross their legs, a detail Roeg used in the film. Adelina Poerio, a 4'2" singer, was cast as the red-coated figure after Roeg saw her photo in Rome. Renato Scarpa played Inspector Longhi despite not speaking English.

Release

The sex scene between Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland caused controversy before the film's 1973 release. The Daily Mail noted it was one of the frankest love scenes ever filmed, likely to cause a censorship row like Last Tango in Paris. The scene included a rare depiction of cunnilingus in a mainstream film. Christie found the scenes difficult, saying there were no role models and she went blank while Roeg shouted instructions.

The American censor advised Roeg that humping and the rise and fall between thighs could not be shown. The scene's fragmented style, intercutting sex with the couple dressing for dinner, partly resulted from Roeg accommodating censors. He cut only nine frames, and the film received an R rating in the US. In Britain, the British Board of Film Censors deemed the uncut version tasteful and integral to the plot, permitting the oral sex scene, and gave it an X rating.

Reception

Don't Look Now was generally well received by critics upon release, though some called it arty and mechanical. Jay Cocks of Time wrote that it demanded more than one viewing. Variety said its visual flourishes made it more than a well-made psycho-horror thriller. Pauline Kael of The New Yorker was more reserved, calling it a carefully assembled enigma with a distasteful clamminess. Gordon Gow of Films and Filming felt it fell short of Roeg's previous films but was a thriller of some depth. Vincent Canby of The New York Times criticised a lack of suspense due to a twist halfway through, after which it became an elegant travelogue. He also found second sight unconvincing on screen, appearing as standard flash-forward, and concluded that most people connected with the film had better things to do.