Don't Look Now

Don't Look Now, released in 1973, confirmed director Nicolas Roeg as one of themost stylish and innovative British directors of the postwar period. Adaptedfrom a short story by Daphne du Maurier, it is both a complex study of howpeople come to terms with grief and a chilling tale of murder set among thecanals and churches of Venice. Featuring telling performances by Julie Christieand Donald Sutherland as the couple whose daughter has tragically died,Don't Look Now depicts the way in which the macabre and the everyday areintertwined. In his lucid, subtle account, Mark Sanderson describes the collaborationbetween director and actors that sustained the film's emotional richness.He returns to du Maurier's original text and to the traditions of Gothic writingthat underpin Don't Look Now's combination of horror, melodrama and blackcomedy. Sanderson examines the film's intricate visual style, uncovering theway in which particular motifs are used to amplify its depiction of two terribledeaths. He finds compensation for the film's grimly fatalistic view of life in itscelebration of sexual relationships and the power of recollection. The bookincludes an exclusive and in-depth interview with Roeg as well as rare andunpublished comments from Christie. In his foreword to this special edition, published to celebrate the 20thanniversary of the BFI Film Classics series, Jason Wood places Don't Look Nowin the context of Roeg's film-making careeer, and draws upon Roeg's revealinginsights into the film's production.