Don’t Look Now "Wenn die Gondeln Trauer tragen" (englische OmdU) // 40. Fantasy Filmfest // Screen Legends

When it finally arrives—that moment whose horror even surpasses the revelation in *Psycho*—you realize that everything shown so far in *Don’t Look Now*—all the hints and warnings, omens and vague premonitions—has been building toward precisely this instant. This deep-red moment of shock is perfect and, quite literally, breathtaking, but it in no way overshadows what a brilliant film Nicolas Roeg has created overall.

“Don’t look now,” the title tells us. Yet in this haunting adaptation of a short story by Daphne du Maurier, it is better to look very closely indeed. With its hints of the paranormal, the film nevertheless tells a clear and relentless story of a man’s journey toward death through a decaying, rotting Venice. Brilliantly portrayed by Donald Sutherland, he is unable to come to terms with his daughter’s death and loses himself in a search for a red raincoat—and the hidden face beneath it.