By Darren Allison
"The
Next Alfred Hitchcock" was how director Brian De Palma was being
celebrated by some back in 1973. It was largely in praise of his latest film,
the thriller ‘Sisters’. There is little doubt that ‘Sisters’ is not only homage
to Hitchcock’s Psycho, but also a huge nod towards Hitchcock’s entire body of
work. As the saying goes - ‘You only borrow from the best’ and of course, it
was no secret that De Palma was a huge admirer of Hitchcock’s work.
‘Sisters’
was inspired by a Life Magazine article read by De Palma, about the Russian
Siamese twins Masha and Dasha. The film begins with a model named Danielle
(played by Margot Kidder), who appears on the local TV game show, Peeping Toms (the film’s first example
of its voyeuristic theme). Danielle goes out to dinner with the winning
contestant, Phillip Wood. Her strange ex-husband Emile (De Palma regular William
Finley) follows Danielle to the restaurant and finally creates a scene. Phillip
takes Danielle back to her home in Staten Island. Emile keeps watch outside
their apartment, as Danielle and Phillip spend the night together.
The
next morning, Phillip is brutally killed (with a large Psycho style knife and
in graphic detail) after overhearing Danielle speak to her sister, Dominique.
The murder is seen by reporter Grace Collier (Jennifer Salt), from her own
apartment (not unlike Hitchcock’s ‘Rear Window’). The police are not entirely convinced
by Grace’s homicide story and they are not enamoured by her personally, perhaps
because she had recently wrote a damming story on police procedures. In true
Hitchcock style, Grace takes it upon herself to investigate and is drawn into a
bizarre story of Siamese siblings, a mysterious mental institute, and identifying
the truth behind Dominique and Danielle. It is established that Danielle never recovered
from the death of her twin Dominique. Furthermore, Dominique remains alive in
the mind of Danielle – a form of guilt lodged deep within her soul - and the
result of having been the twin to survive a surgical separation. Danielle’s sexual
experience with men (such as Philip or Emile) becomes the catalyst that awakens
Dominique and the murderous side of Danielle's damaged mind.
De
Palma’s film is a fascinating watch, the observations alluding to Hitchcock’s
body of work almost border on blatant, but it is spirited, and because of that,
we simply suck it in and revel in it - rather than being repelled by it. Even
the ‘Janet Leigh’ element – (the killing off of a likeable lead character so
early in the film), is carried out in ‘Sisters’ smoothly and capably. De
Palma’s own trademark feature – the use of the split screen process is also
deployed well. In particular, the murder of Phillip as witnessed by Grace uses
the process to super effect. Whilst one half of the screen illustrates
Phillip’s perspective looking from the apartment window across to Grace, the
other half focuses on Grace’s window and her POV, looking to Phillip’s window
and his eventual demise – all of which is excellent stuff. Fans of Hitchcock
may also like to know composer Bernard Herrmann provides one of his truly great
70s scores for ‘Sisters’ – and cements the homage to perfection.
Arrow
has produced a delicious looking (1080p) High Definition digital master with
fine detail and just the right amount of grain. De Palma chose to shoot on 35mm
opposed to 16mm, regardless of budget restraints, which proved to be the right
choice as the difference clearly shows. De Palma was aware that blowing up a
16mm print to 35mm would have made a noticeable difference, instead he used
16mm in emphasise certain scenes, and he chose wisely. Viewing Arrow’s Blu-Ray
allows us to view the film cleanly whilst never letting us forget we are
watching a 70s movie, and as a result – a perfect balance is achieved. Adding
to the overall retro experience, the original mono audio is also retained,
leaving no room for unnecessary tinkering and tweaking and removing us from the
familiar comfort ‘zone’.
Arrow
has also provided a nice collection of extras that include an excellent
documentary ‘What the Devil Hath Joined Together: Brian De Palma’s Sisters’ – A
visual essay by author Justin Humphreys. There is also a generous collection of
all new interviews with co-writer Louisa Rose, actress Jennifer Salt, editor
Paul Hirsch and unit manager Jeffrey Hayes. The De Palma Digest – A
film-by-film guide to the director’s career by critic Mike Sutton is a very
nice 30 minute retrospective guide to De Palma’s work, and proves somewhat
insightful – especially on his later films which to some degree had slipped
under the radar… There is also an archival audio interview with De Palma friend
and ‘Sisters’ co-star William Finley (Emile). The original theatrical trailer
and gallery of ‘Sisters’ promotional material from around the world, round off
the disc very nicely in deed. Whilst a check disc was provided for the purpose
of this review, Arrow’s retail version contains a reversible sleeve featuring
original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys and a Illustrated
collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by author Kier-La Janisse
(House of Psychotic Women) as well as Brian De Palma’s original 1973 Village
Voice essay on working with composer Bernard Herrmann and a contemporary
interview with De Palma on making ‘Sisters’, and the 1966 Life magazine article
that inspired the film.
‘Sisters’
(released on April 28th 2014) is a super addition to the Arrow catalogue and a
wonderful opportunity to enjoy De Palma’s first real taste of mainstream cinema
in the finest possible quality.
CLICK HERE TO ORDER FROM AMAZON UK (THIS IS A REGION 2 PAL FORMAT RELEASE)