I’ve got a few major blind spots in my experience with popular or important movies. One is Preston Sturges, another is Brian De Palma. De Palma was of course one of the consortium of ambitious young filmmakers who took Hollywood by storm in the 1970s, part of the friend group that included Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Martin Scorsese -though I have seen far fewer of his movies than any of theirs (I did however cover Carrie a few years ago). What I know of De Palma is that he was one of the weirder ones of that collective (just look at some of his earliest movies), that he’s particularly known for thrillers, was a favourite of Pauline Kaels’, and is a big Hitchcock fanboy.
And his 1972 thriller Sisters is a pretty clear-cut expression of that Hitchcock fanaticism, a movie that borrows directly from Psycho, Rear Window, Vertigo, and Rope in its story of the investigation into a pair of separated conjoined twins, one of whom is a murderer. De Palma even goes so far as to have Bernard Herrmann compose the score, an excellent one at that, as he mimics Hitchcocks’ suspense techniques and style. It’s a loving homage though, and De Palma uses the relative freedom he has in the 1970s to go a little further than Hitchcock might have. The key murder is more graphic than in Psycho and he’s able to draw much more attention to the theme of voyeurism than Rear Window right off the start through a show about ‘peeping toms’. He incorporates Hitchcockian narrative devices, particularly those of Psycho (a red herring protagonist, changing POV characters, an ambiguous killer seemingly protected by a more innocent family member), but also infuses his own creative touches. The split screen sequence in particular is really good, heightening the tension as you see exactly how the police wasting time allows a crime scene to be hidden.
This movie isn’t very kind to the police and that’s nice, and it actually addresses police racism as well, given how the officers don’t seem to take seriously the murder of a black man. The more powerful theme to the film though is feminist, with Jennifer Salt’s fearless investigative journalist (who witnesses the crime from her neighbouring apartment) frequently suppressed in her professional endeavour to prove the crime. She’s the one who calls the cops out and is the performance highlight of the movie. But there’s also a dark thread of masculine sexual control and abuse that is explored in the relationship between twin Danielle, played by Margot Kidder in a not quite convincing Quebcois accent, and her ex-husband (William Finley). Unlike Psycho, this films’ killer is herself a victim, psychologically traumatized and gaslit by a domineering man.
There are some compelling choices too that hearken back to other influences on De Palma, particularly a film about the twins that resembles the aesthetic of German expressionism, and as such creates a very eerie tone (the problematic side of Sisters is like Psycho, a tendency to otherize an abnormal physical or mental condition, in this case conjoined twins). The climax is especially interesting in revisiting this aesthetic more chaotically, and with a dose of Persona-style duality to the relationship between the two lead women (and throughout the film in general it must be said). It invites a lot of analysis by design, but De Palma doesn’t forget to make it chilling as well.
Sisters is a very conscious Hitchcock homage, but De Palma’s got a lot on his mind independently. He’s very much playing in another filmmakers’ sandbox but is interested in what he can bring to it and it’s fascinating. I’ve got some catching up to do.
Criterion Recommendation: Let the Right One In (2008)
Criterion Recommendation: Let the Right One In (2008)
Before he was sabotaging his own career with films like The Snowman, Tomas Alfredson came onto the scene with an unusual little vampire movie called Let the Right One In. Based on a Swedish novel, it’s about a boy in Stockholm who befriends a mysterious vampire girl. A really beautiful mix of horror and romance, its’ a film that grapples with themes of anger, desperation, vengeance, and loneliness as it questions while also making you understand the complicated emotional head-space of these children, neither of whom are very happy with their lot in life. There are subtexts relating to violence, abuse, and even gender identity. The film is exceptionally written and surprisingly sweet, owing a lot to the magnificent performance from the young Lina Leandersson. Hoyte van Hoytema’s cinematography is captivating in its lush melancholy, and the music by Johan Söderqvist is sensational. There really aren’t enough vampire movies in the Criterion Collection, and this might be the best of the last couple decades.
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