Don't Look Now

BFI Film Classics

by Mark Sanderson

This account of the film "Don't Look Now" describes the collaboration between director and actors. It looks at du Maurier's original text and the traditions of Gothic writing which underpin the film's combination of horror, melodrama and black comedy. There is also an interview with Nicholas Roeg.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction, Media Tie In

84 pages, Paperback

First published October 27, 1996

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the BFI Film Classics series. They're short, snappy books the length of a long essay, and their tone is somewhere between film criticism, cultural theory, and sheer enthusiastic appreciation. Don't Look Now is a great movie from a great story. After reading Sanderson on it, I want to watch it all over again. This time, paying more attention to how the color red is used. (Hint: it does not bode well.)

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating appraisal of a classic film. The writing seems on occasion a little scattershot but emotional veracity and intellectual rigour are to the fore.

[Russio · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, this is a very decent piece of work, pulling a reading together through close analysis. Oddly, for a slim volume, it has moments of verbosity and the interchanging of character and actor names in lengthy shot analyses causes unnecessary work for the reader, especially when Christie (the actress) is cross-cut with her character’s daughter Christine.

It contains the most acidic bibliography I have ever read, slamming writers and editors for certain errors. He must have been furious when discovering that in this tome Roeg’s Eureka becomes a film of both 1982 and 1984.

[Paul Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superb book of criticism and perspective about one of the greatest films ever. Have a read!

[Francis Cooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun reflection on Nicolas Roeg’s masterpiece, notable for the fact that Sanderson uses his bibliography to neg every other book ever written about the film and/or director.

[Tom Tipton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, to the point and insightful. Don’t come if you didn’t love the movie.

[Art · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nic Roeg's film is a haunting but puzzling classic that examines both grief and belief in the supernatural and is also a horror film and maybe a giallo. Perhaps there is no easy interpretation but I found Sanderson's book to be a bit scattershot and rambling. Shot-by-shot explications of the opening and closing scenes are helpful but more descriptive than anything. The interview excerpts with Roeg himself offer the most value.