WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.299 You know, usually when we crack open the file 00:00:03.299 --> 00:00:06.440 on a horror classic for a deep dive, we're bracing 00:00:06.440 --> 00:00:08.500 ourselves for the usual suspects. Right, the 00:00:08.500 --> 00:00:11.140 jump scares, the teenagers making terrible decisions. 00:00:11.460 --> 00:00:12.820 Like running up the stairs instead of out the 00:00:12.820 --> 00:00:15.279 front door, exactly. Or, you know, maybe a guy 00:00:15.279 --> 00:00:17.760 in a hockey mask. Yeah, the standard tropes. 00:00:17.760 --> 00:00:20.620 But the film we are looking at today, it, um... 00:00:21.710 --> 00:00:23.989 It doesn't really fit in those boxes at all. 00:00:24.089 --> 00:00:26.690 In fact, calling it a horror movie almost feels 00:00:26.690 --> 00:00:29.570 like a disservice, even though it is absolutely 00:00:29.570 --> 00:00:31.609 terrifying. I agree completely. I mean, if you 00:00:31.609 --> 00:00:34.890 go into Nicholas Regg's 1973 film Don't Look 00:00:34.890 --> 00:00:37.229 Now expecting a standard creature feature or 00:00:37.229 --> 00:00:39.409 a slasher, you're going to be confused. Very 00:00:39.409 --> 00:00:41.509 confused. And honestly. Probably quite depressed. 00:00:41.829 --> 00:00:44.350 But if you look at the comprehensive overview 00:00:44.350 --> 00:00:47.090 we have of the film's production, the plot, and 00:00:47.090 --> 00:00:49.509 the critical analysis, you realize it's actually 00:00:49.509 --> 00:00:52.509 a master class in film editing. It really is. 00:00:52.570 --> 00:00:54.869 It's a cinematic puzzle box. A puzzle box that 00:00:54.869 --> 00:00:57.590 somehow leaves every single viewer absolutely 00:00:57.590 --> 00:01:00.810 shaken. We are talking about the masterpiece 00:01:00.810 --> 00:01:03.630 starring Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie. 00:01:04.030 --> 00:01:06.750 Which is now widely considered a masterpiece 00:01:06.750 --> 00:01:09.129 of British cinema, yeah. Right. It consistently 00:01:09.129 --> 00:01:11.829 tops those industry polls, yet it's incredibly 00:01:11.829 --> 00:01:14.549 divisive. So what's our mission today? Well, 00:01:14.569 --> 00:01:17.209 our mission is to figure out how Roeg did it, 00:01:17.269 --> 00:01:19.909 how did he use innovative editing, recurring 00:01:19.909 --> 00:01:23.829 visual motifs, and one of the most controversial 00:01:23.829 --> 00:01:27.290 sex scenes in history to build what they marketed 00:01:27.290 --> 00:01:30.730 at the time as a psychic thriller. That term, 00:01:30.750 --> 00:01:33.510 psychic thriller. is actually the perfect key 00:01:33.510 --> 00:01:35.590 to unlocking this, isn't it? It really is. Because 00:01:35.590 --> 00:01:37.769 the scary part isn't a monster under the bed, 00:01:37.870 --> 00:01:40.730 at least not until the very end. The scary part 00:01:40.730 --> 00:01:44.010 is inside the protagonist's head. It's a profound 00:01:44.010 --> 00:01:46.489 exploration of grief. Exactly. It's about how 00:01:46.489 --> 00:01:49.469 the human mind tries and ultimately fails to 00:01:49.469 --> 00:01:51.909 process trauma. It uses the language of film 00:01:51.909 --> 00:01:53.930 to trick the audience just as the protagonist 00:01:53.930 --> 00:01:55.909 is being tricked. And to understand that, we 00:01:55.909 --> 00:01:57.430 have to start right at the beginning, at the 00:01:57.430 --> 00:01:59.909 source material. It's based on a Daphne du Maurier 00:01:59.909 --> 00:02:02.560 short story, right? Yes, but Rogue took that 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:04.900 text and turned it into something purely visual. 00:02:05.159 --> 00:02:07.519 So let's set the scene for anyone listening who 00:02:07.519 --> 00:02:09.620 hasn't seen it or maybe hasn't seen it in 20 00:02:09.620 --> 00:02:12.139 years. We start in an English country house. 00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:15.080 Right. It's a Sunday afternoon. It's cozy. There's 00:02:15.080 --> 00:02:17.699 a fire crackling. Donald Sutherland, playing 00:02:17.699 --> 00:02:20.340 John Baxter, is looking at slides of an ancient 00:02:20.340 --> 00:02:22.240 church he's commissioned to restore in Venice. 00:02:22.520 --> 00:02:25.719 San Nicolò dei Mendicotti. Right. And Julie Christie, 00:02:25.939 --> 00:02:28.719 playing his wife Laura, is reading nearby. It 00:02:28.719 --> 00:02:31.800 feels totally safe. It feels mundane, which is 00:02:31.800 --> 00:02:34.569 the trick. But outside, their children are playing 00:02:34.569 --> 00:02:37.169 near a pond. And specifically, their daughter, 00:02:37.330 --> 00:02:40.509 Christine, is wearing a bright red coat. And 00:02:40.509 --> 00:02:42.629 while John is inside looking at these slides, 00:02:42.789 --> 00:02:45.210 something happens. He knocks over a glass of 00:02:45.210 --> 00:02:47.250 water. Right, a recurring motif we'll get into 00:02:47.250 --> 00:02:50.110 later. A blot of red ink spreads on the slide 00:02:50.110 --> 00:02:52.689 he's looking at. And he has this sudden hunch. 00:02:52.949 --> 00:02:55.330 It's like a physical reaction. Here's the inciting 00:02:55.330 --> 00:02:57.449 incident. He rushes out the door, running toward 00:02:57.449 --> 00:03:00.620 the bond, but he's too late. The girl has drowned. 00:03:00.900 --> 00:03:02.900 He pulls her out of the water, the small red 00:03:02.900 --> 00:03:06.639 bundle, and just screams in absolute agony. It 00:03:06.639 --> 00:03:09.659 is gut -wrenching. And this is where we get the 00:03:09.659 --> 00:03:12.000 first piece of cinematic genius that critics 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:14.759 always point to, the transition. Right, you have 00:03:14.759 --> 00:03:18.419 Laura, the mother, seeing her dead child, and 00:03:18.419 --> 00:03:20.860 she opens her mouth to scream. But we don't hear 00:03:20.860 --> 00:03:23.719 the scream. We get the oral match cut. Exactly. 00:03:24.250 --> 00:03:26.729 Just as the visual of her screaming registers, 00:03:27.169 --> 00:03:29.789 the sound cuts instantly and violently to the 00:03:29.789 --> 00:03:31.689 high -pitched screech of a mechanical drill. 00:03:31.949 --> 00:03:34.930 And visually, we smash cut from the Green Pond 00:03:34.930 --> 00:03:37.770 in England to a gray, dusty church in Venice. 00:03:38.030 --> 00:03:40.509 It's completely jarring. It physically hurts 00:03:40.509 --> 00:03:42.449 to listen to. It makes you want to cover your 00:03:42.449 --> 00:03:45.009 ears. That's the point. Roeg wants to bypass 00:03:45.009 --> 00:03:47.669 your logic and hit your nervous system. He actually 00:03:47.669 --> 00:03:49.830 got the inspiration for that technique from Alfred 00:03:49.830 --> 00:03:52.650 Hitchcock. Oh, really? Yeah, from The 39 Steps, 00:03:52.650 --> 00:03:54.789 where a woman's... scream transitions into a 00:03:54.789 --> 00:03:57.449 steam train whistle, but here it serves a deeper 00:03:57.449 --> 00:03:59.870 narrative function. It links the trauma of the 00:03:59.870 --> 00:04:02.310 drowning directly to their new life in Venice. 00:04:02.509 --> 00:04:05.330 Exactly. The pain hasn't been left behind. They're 00:04:05.330 --> 00:04:08.789 just trying to escape their grief. So, they are 00:04:08.789 --> 00:04:12.050 in Venice. John is working on the church. But 00:04:12.050 --> 00:04:14.430 this isn't the romantic postcard version of Venice, 00:04:14.550 --> 00:04:17.860 is it? Not at all. It's filmed in winter. It's 00:04:17.860 --> 00:04:21.459 gray, damp, decaying. The geography of the city 00:04:21.459 --> 00:04:24.620 is labyrinthine, which perfectly mirrors John's 00:04:24.620 --> 00:04:27.800 mental confusion. And in this maze, Laura has 00:04:27.800 --> 00:04:29.939 an encounter that changes the entire trajectory 00:04:29.939 --> 00:04:32.000 of their lives. Right, she meets two elderly 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:34.740 sisters, Heather and Wendy. They meet at a restaurant, 00:04:34.860 --> 00:04:37.079 and it seems harmless enough, but one of them, 00:04:37.139 --> 00:04:40.569 Heather, is blind. And she claims to be psychic. 00:04:40.790 --> 00:04:43.149 And she tells Laura the one thing a grieving 00:04:43.149 --> 00:04:45.569 mother is desperate to hear. She says she can 00:04:45.569 --> 00:04:48.110 see Christine. That she's happy. Yeah. And look 00:04:48.110 --> 00:04:50.170 at the physiological reaction Laura has to this 00:04:50.170 --> 00:04:52.750 news. She faints. Just total sensory overload. 00:04:52.930 --> 00:04:55.170 But when she wakes up later, she finds comfort 00:04:55.170 --> 00:04:57.189 in it. She's transformed. She stops taking her 00:04:57.189 --> 00:04:59.009 pills. She's happy because she genuinely believes 00:04:59.009 --> 00:05:02.170 her daughter is still with them. But John. John 00:05:02.170 --> 00:05:04.589 is an architect. He deals in structural integrity, 00:05:04.970 --> 00:05:07.730 logic, rational thought. He thinks it's absolute 00:05:07.730 --> 00:05:10.540 nonsense. And that creates the central tension 00:05:10.540 --> 00:05:13.879 of the movie. Laura heals through belief while 00:05:13.879 --> 00:05:16.600 John dismisses the supernatural. Which ultimately 00:05:16.600 --> 00:05:19.300 dooms him. Exactly. Because the tragic irony 00:05:19.300 --> 00:05:21.600 here is that John is actually the one with the 00:05:21.600 --> 00:05:23.680 psychic gift. He's the one having the premonitions. 00:05:23.980 --> 00:05:27.509 Precisely. But he suppresses them. And let's 00:05:27.509 --> 00:05:30.629 dig into how Roeg shows us that. Visually, the 00:05:30.629 --> 00:05:33.410 sources emphasize the associative use of the 00:05:33.410 --> 00:05:35.930 color red. Right. Red is the dominant motif. 00:05:36.209 --> 00:05:39.050 It links the dead daughter to this elusive figure 00:05:39.050 --> 00:05:41.350 John keeps seeing running around Venice. He keeps 00:05:41.350 --> 00:05:43.569 catching glimpses of a small figure in a red 00:05:43.569 --> 00:05:45.670 coat darting through the alleys. And his brain 00:05:45.670 --> 00:05:48.209 immediately associates that red coat with Christine. 00:05:48.470 --> 00:05:50.970 What's fascinating is that in the original Daphne 00:05:50.970 --> 00:05:53.529 du Maurier novella, Laura was the one wearing 00:05:53.529 --> 00:05:55.660 red. Oh, really? I didn't know that. Yeah, Roeg 00:05:55.660 --> 00:05:58.000 intentionally changed it so the color signifies 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:00.540 the daughter and, by extension, death. And then 00:06:00.540 --> 00:06:02.459 there's the water. I mean, the whole movie feels 00:06:02.459 --> 00:06:05.600 damp. Water is in constant association with death. 00:06:06.220 --> 00:06:09.000 Christine drowned in a pond, Venice is full of 00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:11.939 canals, and there's a subplot about victims of 00:06:11.939 --> 00:06:13.959 a serial killer being dragged from the water. 00:06:14.180 --> 00:06:18.000 It's everywhere. I also noticed the glass. It 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:20.100 feels like breaking glass is a constant omen 00:06:20.100 --> 00:06:22.660 of... Bad things. Definitely. Think about the 00:06:22.660 --> 00:06:25.579 sequence. John knocks over a glass before Christine 00:06:25.579 --> 00:06:28.660 drowns. Laura knocks over glassware at the restaurant 00:06:28.660 --> 00:06:31.240 when she faints. And later, a plank shatters 00:06:31.240 --> 00:06:33.459 glass when John nearly falls to his death in 00:06:33.459 --> 00:06:35.459 the church. Right, it's like the movie trains 00:06:35.459 --> 00:06:37.300 you to expect tragedy when you hear breaking 00:06:37.300 --> 00:06:40.100 glass. But the thing that really messes with 00:06:40.100 --> 00:06:42.300 your head is the editing. The fractured editing, 00:06:42.439 --> 00:06:44.620 yeah. It feels like time is just completely fluid. 00:06:45.069 --> 00:06:47.629 That's Roeg's signature style. You see it in 00:06:47.629 --> 00:06:49.889 his other films too, like Performance and Walkabout. 00:06:50.069 --> 00:06:52.949 He operates on the idea that the past, present, 00:06:53.129 --> 00:06:56.230 and future exist simultaneously. So when John 00:06:56.230 --> 00:06:59.370 sees things, he's not having flashbacks. No, 00:06:59.410 --> 00:07:01.689 he is having flash -forwards. He's having premonitions. 00:07:01.689 --> 00:07:03.930 The most famous example of this is the funeral 00:07:03.930 --> 00:07:06.410 barge scene. Let's unpack that because it's so 00:07:06.410 --> 00:07:09.430 crucial. Okay, so John is on a water bus and 00:07:09.430 --> 00:07:12.860 he looks out. and sees his wife, Laura, standing 00:07:12.860 --> 00:07:15.759 on a passing funeral barge. She's dressed in 00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:18.480 black, and she's with those two sisters. Right, 00:07:18.600 --> 00:07:21.600 but at this point in the plot, John thinks Laura 00:07:21.600 --> 00:07:25.139 is in England. Exactly. He thinks it's the present. 00:07:25.300 --> 00:07:28.720 He thinks she lied about leaving Venice. He misinterprets 00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:31.540 the sign completely. He thinks he's a rational 00:07:31.540 --> 00:07:34.310 man, so he thinks he's seeing a conspiracy. But 00:07:34.310 --> 00:07:36.529 it's actually a vision of the future. It's a 00:07:36.529 --> 00:07:39.310 vision of his own funeral. That is just wild. 00:07:39.529 --> 00:07:43.009 The plot literally drives on his mistaken identity 00:07:43.009 --> 00:07:46.009 and his misinterpretation of every sign. Now, 00:07:46.050 --> 00:07:48.129 we can't talk about Don't Look Now without discussing 00:07:48.129 --> 00:07:50.529 the infamous sex scene. Oh, absolutely. It's 00:07:50.529 --> 00:07:52.709 arguably one of the most famous scenes in British 00:07:52.709 --> 00:07:54.470 cinema. And looking at the production history, 00:07:54.670 --> 00:07:57.310 it was completely unscripted. Rogue added it 00:07:57.310 --> 00:07:59.709 at the last minute. Why did he do that? He felt 00:07:59.709 --> 00:08:01.389 there were too many scenes of the couple just 00:08:01.389 --> 00:08:04.089 arguing. He wanted to show that despite the grief 00:08:04.089 --> 00:08:06.250 separating them, there was still a deep intimacy 00:08:06.250 --> 00:08:08.670 there. But it's the editing technique that makes 00:08:08.670 --> 00:08:11.699 it so memorable. Yes, it intercuts the couple 00:08:11.699 --> 00:08:14.139 having sex with them getting dressed to go out 00:08:14.139 --> 00:08:16.660 to dinner afterwards. It shows intimacy right 00:08:16.660 --> 00:08:18.759 alongside routine. But it also served a very 00:08:18.759 --> 00:08:21.259 practical purpose regarding censorship. Right, 00:08:21.339 --> 00:08:23.360 the U .S. censors. The U .S. censors literally 00:08:23.360 --> 00:08:26.939 told them, we cannot see humping. Unbelievable. 00:08:27.279 --> 00:08:31.000 So Roeg used that fragmented editing to get around 00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:33.820 it. By constantly cutting away to them getting 00:08:33.820 --> 00:08:37.159 dressed, you never technically see the prohibited 00:08:37.159 --> 00:08:40.409 continuous motion. He outsmarted the censors 00:08:40.409 --> 00:08:44.110 with art. But what about the rumors, the urban 00:08:44.110 --> 00:08:47.230 legend that Sutherland and Christie had unsimulated 00:08:47.230 --> 00:08:50.429 sex on camera? That rumor has persisted for decades. 00:08:50.870 --> 00:08:53.269 Former Paramount executive Peter Bart actually 00:08:53.269 --> 00:08:55.350 claimed he was on set and saw it happen. And 00:08:55.350 --> 00:08:57.429 didn't Warren Beatty get involved? Yeah, Beatty 00:08:57.429 --> 00:08:59.029 was Christie's boyfriend at the time, and he 00:08:59.029 --> 00:09:01.230 reportedly flew to London to demand the scene 00:09:01.230 --> 00:09:03.649 be cut. So what's the truth? Donald Sutherland 00:09:03.649 --> 00:09:06.049 issued a firm statement calling the claims completely 00:09:06.049 --> 00:09:09.080 untrue. They maintain it was just excellent acting. 00:09:09.240 --> 00:09:11.480 Well, it certainly looks real. Just like the 00:09:11.480 --> 00:09:13.539 stunts. I was reading about that church scene 00:09:13.539 --> 00:09:15.860 where John dangles from the scaffolding. That 00:09:15.860 --> 00:09:18.340 was incredibly dangerous. Sutherland did the 00:09:18.340 --> 00:09:20.840 stunt himself. Wait, really? No stunt double? 00:09:20.879 --> 00:09:23.730 No, no double. And years later, the stunt coordinator, 00:09:23.929 --> 00:09:26.610 Vic Armstrong, told him that the Kirby wire they 00:09:26.610 --> 00:09:29.090 used wasn't actually designed for that kind of 00:09:29.090 --> 00:09:31.529 stress. You're kidding. If the rope had slipped, 00:09:31.809 --> 00:09:34.210 the wire could have snapped. That adds a whole 00:09:34.210 --> 00:09:36.429 new layer of terror to that scene. Speaking of 00:09:36.429 --> 00:09:38.470 adding terror, we have to mention the score by 00:09:38.470 --> 00:09:40.789 Pino D 'Onozio. Oh, yes. He was a popular singer. 00:09:40.830 --> 00:09:43.529 Right. He wrote, you don't have to say you love 00:09:43.529 --> 00:09:46.649 me. Exactly. A casting director actually discovered 00:09:46.649 --> 00:09:49.110 him on a Vaporetto in Venice. And what's fascinating 00:09:49.110 --> 00:09:51.960 is that D 'Onozio couldn't play the piano. But 00:09:51.960 --> 00:09:54.840 Rogold loved that. He felt the unsure playing 00:09:54.840 --> 00:09:57.080 sounded like a little girl learning to play the 00:09:57.080 --> 00:09:59.120 piano. Which perfectly fits the theme of the 00:09:59.120 --> 00:10:02.460 dead daughter. It's so haunting. All right, we 00:10:02.460 --> 00:10:05.019 are heading into spoiler territory here. We need 00:10:05.019 --> 00:10:07.440 to talk about the climax and the twist. It's 00:10:07.440 --> 00:10:10.519 essential. So John is staying in Venice. He thinks 00:10:10.519 --> 00:10:13.340 Laura is in England. He sees the red -coated 00:10:13.340 --> 00:10:15.759 figure again and decides to pursue it. Because 00:10:15.759 --> 00:10:18.179 he thinks it's a lost child. He corners the figure 00:10:18.179 --> 00:10:21.450 in a deserted palazzo. The figure turns around 00:10:21.450 --> 00:10:25.230 and... It's not a child. It is a hideous female 00:10:25.230 --> 00:10:27.899 dwarf. The serial killer we've been hearing about 00:10:27.899 --> 00:10:30.460 the whole time. She pulls out a meat cleaver 00:10:30.460 --> 00:10:33.940 and slashes his throat. It's so shocking. And 00:10:33.940 --> 00:10:36.240 as John dies, we get that incredible montage. 00:10:36.279 --> 00:10:39.139 His life flashes before his eyes. But it's actually 00:10:39.139 --> 00:10:41.220 the realization that all his earlier visions 00:10:41.220 --> 00:10:44.419 were of this exact moment. He foresaw his own 00:10:44.419 --> 00:10:46.899 death and his own funeral, but he just didn't 00:10:46.899 --> 00:10:50.059 understand. Exactly. So how did audiences at 00:10:50.059 --> 00:10:52.860 the time react to this? I imagine it was polarizing. 00:10:53.129 --> 00:10:55.929 Very mixed. The New Yorker called it distasteful. 00:10:56.049 --> 00:10:58.250 The New York Times completely missed the mark 00:10:58.250 --> 00:11:00.470 and called it a travelogue with no suspense. 00:11:00.789 --> 00:11:03.070 A travelogue. That's absurd. But British critics 00:11:03.070 --> 00:11:05.669 immediately hailed Rogue as a genius. And its 00:11:05.669 --> 00:11:08.710 modern status is undeniable. Top 10 in the BFI 00:11:08.710 --> 00:11:10.950 industry poll. And its influence is everywhere. 00:11:11.070 --> 00:11:13.649 Casino Royale has Bond chasing a woman in red 00:11:13.649 --> 00:11:16.750 in Venice. In Bruges, references it explicitly. 00:11:17.049 --> 00:11:19.850 Ari Aster cites it as a key influence for Hereditary. 00:11:20.070 --> 00:11:23.559 And ironically, Kiefer Sutherland. Donald's son, 00:11:23.799 --> 00:11:26.559 stars in Flatliners where he's terrorized by 00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:29.240 a child in a red coat. Not to mention the music 00:11:29.240 --> 00:11:32.320 industry. Big Audio Dynamite references the film 00:11:32.320 --> 00:11:35.860 in their song EMC2. So bringing it all together 00:11:35.860 --> 00:11:39.440 for you listening. Why does this movie stick 00:11:39.440 --> 00:11:41.799 with us? What is the real takeaway here? It suggests 00:11:41.799 --> 00:11:43.820 that the world is full of signs we are just too 00:11:43.820 --> 00:11:46.440 rational to see. It's a horror movie, but the 00:11:46.440 --> 00:11:48.919 monster isn't the killer. The monster is grief. 00:11:49.139 --> 00:11:52.480 It's the inability to let go. And the film operates 00:11:52.480 --> 00:11:55.360 as a self -fulfilling prophecy. If John had just 00:11:55.360 --> 00:11:57.139 believed the psychic warning to leave Venice, 00:11:57.299 --> 00:11:59.879 he would have lived. His skepticism was the very 00:11:59.879 --> 00:12:02.019 thing that killed him. Absolutely. But, you know, 00:12:02.059 --> 00:12:03.980 thinking about that rationality, it leaves you 00:12:03.980 --> 00:12:05.919 with a provocative question to explore on your 00:12:05.919 --> 00:12:08.529 own. What if John's skepticism wasn't just a 00:12:08.529 --> 00:12:11.549 flaw, but a psychological defense mechanism we 00:12:11.549 --> 00:12:14.409 all use? What do you mean? Well, we pride ourselves 00:12:14.409 --> 00:12:16.950 on being logical, but maybe our heavy reliance 00:12:16.950 --> 00:12:19.129 on rationality is just a way to avoid processing 00:12:19.129 --> 00:12:22.450 our own deep -seated traumas. We look away from 00:12:22.450 --> 00:12:24.750 the truth because looking directly at it, looking 00:12:24.750 --> 00:12:27.289 right at the grief, is what truly destroys us. 00:12:27.470 --> 00:12:29.509 That's a powerful way to look at it. It really 00:12:29.509 --> 00:12:33.539 makes you question your own blind spots. Well, 00:12:33.559 --> 00:12:35.620 that's all for today's deep dive. Thanks for 00:12:35.620 --> 00:12:37.500 exploring the canals with us, and we'll catch 00:12:37.500 --> 00:12:38.159 you next time.