Film Review: Don’t Look Now (1973)

Fig. 1 Don’t Look Now (1973) Film Poster

‘Roeg’s portrait in London’s National Portrait Gallery is titled “al-jebr,” which in Arabic means,

“the bringing together of broken parts.”’ (Justice, 2007)

Nicolas Roeg does exactly this throughout his 1973 film ‘Don’t Look Now’ where there is a

realm of disconnection through his rhizomic editing structure. Roag seeks to challenge the

audience’s knowledge of chronology through this mismatched editing style which includes the use of

flashbacks and flashforwards. Without this sense of chronology and time we seek to find

relationships between connections that may not exist and are made instead to rely on symbolism

through imagery. Take the opening sequence for instance, the scene flits between the action of John

(Donald Sutherland) and Laura (Julie Christie) to that of their daughter Christine (Sharon Williams)

continuously. Christine’s boots splashing in the water is related with the breaking of the mirror, and

the ball toss is related to that of John and Laura lighting cigarettes. ‘The need to connect images

arises for the spectator from the juxtaposition of shots in a fragmentary pattern that restricts plot

connections and draws attention to themes.’ (Newland, 2010) Yet these shots juxtaposed do not

help us piece together the plot, instead giving insight into the film’s themes of foreshadowing of

events, connections and precognition. The links of these shots are brought together as if fragmented

by the end of the scene to young Christine’s unfortunate and untimely death.

Fig. 2 Result of fragmented scenes brought together

There is a sense of the unknown about ‘Don’t Look Now’. Unknown reality, unknown

country, unknowing where you stand in a relationship and this just adds to the alienation and

anxiety the film creates. John’s wandering through the winding backstreets of Venice creates a sense

of claustrophobia and acts just as a maze does, you don’t have your bearings, where you are, how to

get out. ‘Don’t Look Now’ is just one big puzzle which is fragmented through the action of

unknowing including the unknowing of which scenes and actions are real. As the film plays out we

are filled with the sense of déjà vu about the repetition of scenes, and in some cases this is true such

as John’s seeing Laura on a funeral boat with the twins but we have no idea which one was real, or if

in fact either was real. John’s encounters with the red clothed figure are examples of this, did he see

the figure or did his premonition subconscious project it as a symbol of the danger one of the twins

foresees in his future. John himself backs up this unknown reality and ambiguity, ‘Nothing is what it

seems’. ‘Don’t Look Now’ acts as an illusionary world where reality could be dream and dream could

be reality, we are not told it is up to us to decide. We could say that J.J. Abrams’ ‘Lost’ takes

influence from Roeg’s idea of bringing together broken parts as it similarly uses flashbacks and

flashforwards to create a sense of the unknown through time and chronology. We are made to

watch closely every action, every image and every symbol to piece together the meaning of the

show and fragmented elements such as each character’s story and depiction are brought together at

the end but again we do not know the full story of ‘Lost’ by the end. It is left to our interpretation.

Fig. 3 Claustrophobic backstreets of Venice

Roeg fills the film with semiotic signifiers especially chromatic association where the film’s sets are of very bland colouring contrasted with the vibrant red of the hooded figure, blood and red wine. Colour acts as the film’s enigma and is a very active element of the film. It is a key motif that constantly recurs alongside shattered glass and water and these motifs are eventually pieced together to reveal their ultimate dreadful meaning. You could link Don’t Look Now’s use of colour as a motif to Steven Spielberg’s ‘Schindler’s List’ in that it is a main element that evokes emotion from

the audience. Where ‘Schindler’s List’ uses the red dressed girl as an image that the audience can use to relate to easier rather than trying to relate to all those that suffered during World War Two ‘Don’t Look Now’ uses it to represent the intercutting and merging of scenes and reality as this motif is evident throughout the whole film and brings together each fragmented part. ‘Colour is routinely perceived as ‘dangerous’, that it is ‘a drug, a loss of consciousness, a kind of blindness’ resulting in ‘a loss of focus, of identity, of self… a loss of mind…of delirium…madness perhaps.’’ (Batchelor, 2000) However, it could also be a signifier of John’s uneven mind as it seems to play a more explicit role in the film when John is questioned such as when Laura tells him of the twin’s contact with Christine but John won’t commit to believing it and the warning he is given. Colour as well as other motifs such as water seem like the manifestation of patriarchal anxiety in that they appear whenever John feels at unease or whenever he questions whether the twins are right. Colour does seem to appear at the worst times of the sense of unknowing during the film and just further depicts this especially with the bright red against the blandness of colouring of Venetian architecture where it doesn’t fit and seems even more dreamlike.

Fig. 4 The dangerousness of colour

Roeg seems to be injecting his audience with the idea of signifiers and symbols being

explicitly seen for a reason. If we choose to ignore them nothing else can be held responsible for

future events yet we shouldn’t ignore them because they are so explicit we should know better.

Bibliography

Batchelor, David. (2000) Chromophobia. London. Reaktion Books Ltd. (Accessed 14/12/2011)

Justice, Chris. (2007) classichorror.com http://classic-horror.com/reviews/dont_look_now_1973

(Accessed 14/12/2011)

Newland, Paul. (2010) Don’t Look Now: British Cinema in the 1970s. U.K. Intellect Books. (Accessed

14/12/2011)

List of Illustrations

Fig. 1. Don’t Look Now(1973) Film Poster From: Don’t Look Now Directed by: Nicolas Roeg. [film

poster] On impawards.com http://www.impawards.com/1973/dont_look_now.html (Accessed

14/12/2011)

Fig. 2. Result of fragmented scenes brought together (1973) From: Don’t Look Now Directed by:

Nicolas Roeg. [film still] On totalfilm.com http://cdn.mos.totalfilm.com/images/d/don-t-look-now-

1973--00-645-75.jpg (Accessed 14/12/2011)

Fig. 3. Claustrophobic backstreets of Venice (1973) From: Don’t Look Now Directed by: Nicolas Roeg.

[film still] On flickr.com http://www.flickr.com/photos/danrn/3791113075/in/photostream/

(Accessed 14/12/2011)

Fig. 4. The dangerousness of colour (1973) From: Don’t Look Now Directed by: Nicolas Roeg. [film

still] On pixhost.me http://pixhost.me/avaxhome/2007-05-13/PDVD_042.jpg (Accessed 14/12/2011)