Don't Look Now (1973) - Lisa's Review

This is a movie my husband recommended to me when we first got together, so it's just taken me 10 years to get around to it.  Well, truth be told it would probably be another 10 years if I was watching this one for my own viewing pleasure.  Unfortunately the life of a movie review blogger means we must watch dull movies and boring movies as well as the good ones and the great ones.  We also watch movies we otherwise wouldn't have done and find in actual fact we were missing out on a great movie.   I wish I could say this were the case for 'Don't Look Now'.  In my opinion, it most certainly was not.

We start the movie with a step back in time from where the most part of the story takes place.  Young couple Laura & John Baxter (played by Sharon Williams & the wonderful Donald Sutherland) are relaxing indoors, looking at some slides of stained glass windows.  Outside, their picture perfect son and beautiful blonde haired daughter play.  Tragedy befalls the family when Christine has an accident and drowns in a lake.  This part of the movie is played well.  The acting is wonderful.  There is definitely a depth and realism about the scene.  If only we didn't get bogged down by the rest of the movie.

We fast forward a few short months and the couple are working on a commission in Venice, restoring a part of a beautiful old church.  There is the air of sadness throughout the movie, though we see Laura and John going through the motions of their life.  We know there hasn't been a physical side to their marriage and they don't seem able to communicate on a deeper level, but on the surface, they appear to the casual onlooker, a normal happily married couple.

Whilst eating in a cafe, 2 old women take quite an interest in the couple and stare, so much so, it appears rude and maybe a little creepy.  When Laura goes to the bathroom, she helps one of the old ladies (who is also in there) remove something from her eye.  Her blind sister had been trying up until this point, unsuccessfully believe it or not.  They get talking and one of the sisters tells Laura that she is a clairvoyant.  She has been able to see her dead daughter Christine sitting at the table between her parents, wearing the little red rain mac she had been wearing when she died.  She appeared happy and seemed to be having fun.

Whilst John is wary of anything like this, Laura is comforted by the womans words and arranges to meet the 2 old ladies later.  We see a drastic change in her behaviour, with the belief that her daughter is with her.  She becomes invigorated, happy, full of life.  The couples physical relationship even seems to get back on track with a passionate unexpected afternoon clinch.

This is where the movie starts to get a bit odd.  It's the real start of something we see a lot in the movies, where one half of a couple are totally convinced something is genuine and throws themselves headfirst into it, whilst the other is wary, even skeptical.  Who is to be believed?

I won't say any more as to say much more would be giving the story away.  What I will say is that I was completely surprised by the 'twist' in the movie.  I didn't even know there was one to be honest.  Since watching the movie, I have read glowing review after review.  Over-the-top praise and statements advising that this was a must for any movie lovers collection.   I hated it.  I found it dull, pretentious and soooooo slow.  The twist did wake me up a bit as I wasn't sure if I'd actually nodded off and missed a whole section of the movie, but that's about as positive as I can get.  The hubby didn't enjoy it second time around either, not remembering why he liked it in the first place.  I love Donald Sutherland, but this definately didn't do it for me.  Avoid.