Obsession. (12A.)
Directed by Brian De Palma. 1976
Starring Cliff Robertson, Genevieve Bujold, John Lithgow. 96 mins.
While Paul McCartney wanted to fill the world with silly love songs, Brian De Palma has always wanted to fill it with silly Hitchcock thrillers. And what's wrong with that? Well, primarily the sense that, because he approaches them as a filmmaker rather than a member of an audience, he doesn't quite get them. What he takes from Hitch is the idea that the plot is ultimately irrelevant, that viewers just care about the thrills you can get from it. Which is probably valid, but DeP has seen that as meaning he has to show the audience that plot logic and credibility isn't important. Indeed he rather rubs their faces in it, appearing to go out of his way to come up with outrageously implausible twists. If he was doing a find-the-lady scam on London bridge, he'd do it with transparent cups.
Obsession is one of his more effective films, a reworking of Vertigo but with a decade and a half gap in the middle. Widower re-estate dealer (Robertson) is still grieving for the wife and child he lost in the first act when he meets an exact replica of his late wife. As a thriller, it is rather hampered by their effectively being only three characters in it, so he is not giving the audience many options into who might be up to what. Instead, he shoots it as a slightly cheesy romance and just allows the magnificent score by Bernard Herrmann to run the whole show.
Directed by Brian De Palma. 1976
Starring Cliff Robertson, Genevieve Bujold, John Lithgow. 96 mins.
While Paul McCartney wanted to fill the world with silly love songs, Brian De Palma has always wanted to fill it with silly Hitchcock thrillers. And what's wrong with that? Well, primarily the sense that, because he approaches them as a filmmaker rather than a member of an audience, he doesn't quite get them. What he takes from Hitch is the idea that the plot is ultimately irrelevant, that viewers just care about the thrills you can get from it. Which is probably valid, but DeP has seen that as meaning he has to show the audience that plot logic and credibility isn't important. Indeed he rather rubs their faces in it, appearing to go out of his way to come up with outrageously implausible twists. If he was doing a find-the-lady scam on London bridge, he'd do it with transparent cups.
Obsession is one of his more effective films, a reworking of Vertigo but with a decade and a half gap in the middle. Widower re-estate dealer (Robertson) is still grieving for the wife and child he lost in the first act when he meets an exact replica of his late wife. As a thriller, it is rather hampered by their effectively being only three characters in it, so he is not giving the audience many options into who might be up to what. Instead, he shoots it as a slightly cheesy romance and just allows the magnificent score by Bernard Herrmann to run the whole show.
