Directed by: Robert Altman, Starring: Susannah York, Rene
Once thought lost (Columbia Pictures were rumoured
to have burned the original negatives) Robert Altman’s early 70’s
improvisational foray into psychological horror re-emerges like a phoenix from
the (non-incinerated) ashes in an Arrow Films exclusive brand new 4k
restoration from the original negative.
This review was first published on the FrighFest website.
Cathryn (Susannah York), a schizophrenic children’s
author, persuades her photographer and keen hunter husband Hugh (Rene
Auberjonois) to escape for a break to her childhood home in the rural Irish
countryside after an anonymous phone caller suggests Hugh is having an affair. Meanwhile,
Cathryn’s own former French lover Rene (Marcel Bozzuffi) – who died 3-years
previously in a plane crash – is rather disturbingly popping up all over the
house, sometimes seamlessly interchanging with her husband in the blink of an
eye. And then there’s her husband’s friend Marcel (Hugh Millais), who surreptitiously
gropes Cathryn at every (in) opportune moment whilst whispering sexually suggestive
invitations only just out of earshot of his 12 year-old daughter Susannah
(Cathryn Harrison) – who in turn just might be a younger image of Cathryn
herself. No wonder poor Cathryn is having a mental breakdown, or is all of this
just imaginary symptoms of her unravelling mind?
Visually there’s much to admire in Altman’s
experimental hybrid fusing of art house inspirations such as Ingmar Bergman’s
PERSONA, with the tropes of the psychological thriller. Together with his
revered cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond, Altman pulls off some extraordinary
cinematic flourishes such as the unsettling in-camera Bavaesque trickery interchanging
husband and former (dead) lover. Another hauntingly memorable sequence involves
Susannah York’s Cathryn standing on a hill top observing a mirror image of herself
arriving at the house down in the valley below. Altman then cuts to this
alternative Cathryn looking up to the horizon and making out the silhouetted
figure of herself staring back down at her. Altman and Zsigmond make the most
of the lush canvas of Irish landscape, including a striking waterfall which
proves to be both an ethereally beautiful location whilst instilled with a foreboding
foreshadowing à la DON’T LOOK NOW which would follow in 1973.
Susannah York (deservedly) won the Best Actress
award at Cannes for her extraordinary portrayal of the psychologically haunted
children’s author. York, pregnant whilst filming, narrated from her own work:
‘In Search of Unicorns’ during the film, lending an autobiographical layer to
the proceedings as well as the fantasy symbolism which Altman incorporates into
the piece.
My patience was at time stretched by some of the mundane
dialogue: “This is the first time I’ve had a tomato sandwich”, “Do you like
it?”, “Yeah”. I also laughed out loud when Cathryn runs terrified whilst being
pursued by a harmless tail-wagging King Charles spaniel (even if the canine may
well be a doggy doppelgänger).
When he isn’t photographing decapitated wildlife, Rene Auberjonois (probably best known for ‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’),
spends most of the film with a cigar in his mouth naively unaware of his wife’s
shattering sanity, of being cuckolded (mentally at the very least) by both the
living and the dead, and worse of all, telling jokes which wouldn’t pass muster
with Christmas cracker manufacturer’s quality control standards.
Cameras, lenses and binoculars are constantly within
frame, symbolising Cathryn’s creeping paranoia, as we the watcher also observe
her through the film lens, thereby making us complicit voyeurs. The onscreen
interchanging of husband Hugh with her deceased lover Rene is playfully
mirrored in the names of the casts’ characters: Rene Auberjonois (‘Hugh’), Hugh Millais (‘Marcel),
Marcel Bozzuffi (‘Rene’). Even Susannah York (‘Cathryn’) and Cathryn Harrison
(‘Susannah’) are in on the in-joke.
Wind chimes jangle and an abundance of symmetry and
double imagery is accompanied by the soundtrack which reflects the mental
splitting of York’s character with a melodic Oscar nominated score from John
Williams intercut with the contrasting jarring percussive sounds of Stomu
Yamashta.
The film is in many ways a jigsaw puzzle like the
one Cathryn and Susannah attempt to complete. Its many elements don’t always
neatly fit together, but once the puzzle is complete (or as complete as
director Altman will allow); its detailed construction reveals itself and
rewards patient examination
****(OUT OF 5*)
Paul Worts
This review was first published on the FrighFest website.
