9. Don't Look Now (1973)

"This one who's blind. She's the one that can see."

I first saw Don't Look Now in my A-Level Film Studies class when I was about 17 and I'm fairly sure we watched Performance at around about the same time, which I also love. Don't Look Now is a rare gem in that it properly unnerved me the first time I saw it, I think a lot of this is down to Roeg's unique skill as a director and the wonderful performances from Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie who are completely believable in their roles are grieving parents.

Don't Look Now is based on a short story by Daphne Du Maurier about a couple, Laura and John Baxter, on a working vacation in Italy shortly after the accidental death of their young daughter. While John works restoring an ancient church Laura befriends two elderly sisters, one of whom is blind and claims to be psychic. John also suffers premonitions of a sort, although you're never sure how much is real and how much is a figment of his distraught mind. This is also set against the stunning backdrop of Venice which is being plagued by a serious of grisly murders.

There is of course the infamous sex scene, which led to much speculation as to whether or not Sutherland and Christie actually had sex on camera. The scene itself was explicit for its day and unusual in it's tenderness and frank portrayal of marital sex. It's interesting that so much focus in film is put on illicit encounters and young lovers, often forgetting the intimacy and passion between long term partners who we often forget, are still capable of loving each other and enjoying their sex life, further highlighted by the scene being intercut with the innocuous business of getting ready to go out afterward.

The film is very much preoccupied with the fear of love and death, primarily the fear of losing someone you that love. It's extremely effective and each scene is perfectly tense and creates a gradual build up of unease culminating in a surreal and shocking ending that is not easy to forget. It's truly a masterpiece of British cinema as a whole, not just within the horror genre.