Art Forman I favor dark comedies bordering on the surreal & Polanski does best. Well deserved kudos from Berlin, which I managed to see shortly thereafter in Philadelphia's wonderful Bandbox Theater which was almost empty, IMSMC. I have seen it once again since years ago in Boston & was delighted to see MGM's digital version on cable, which seems an excellent reproduction. Some of the other reviews here sorely missed the point. The setting is Lindisfarne, a holy island in northern England. Ms. Bisset has a line, which is one of my favorites. This is a very dark comedy indeed that was way ahead of its time, which even today confuses many viewers, including some reviewers here. A pity Françoise Dorléac went the James Dean route shortly after filming this, her best role.

Jugu Abraham I am surprised the film won the Golden Bear at Berlin. I have loved Polanski's "Chinatown,"" Tess," and "Death and the Maiden." Polanski in Cul-de sac, presented great performances from two actors: Lionel Stander (whose career was wrecked by the McCarthy commission) and Donald Pleasance. Little else. The Jacqueline Bisset role was a cameo, nothing more and yet some posters have her name alongside the main actors.What irked me most was the fact that film was supposed to be set in America but the filming was in UK. Can American telephones and telephone lines make UK look like USA? Are there 11th century forts in USA? That's part of the Polanski script!!!

ben-345-739716 A totally far fetched situation is made utterly credible by the sheer craft of the filming - from the first scene where the Morris Minor collapses on its suspension every time Dickie sits down again - and the meticulous attention to detail in performances, dialogue and setting. Lionel Stander (like a Spaghetti Western thug) invades the home of George and Theresa, and whilst of course George is a wimp and possibly impotent too, as a middle class, middle aged married man I can't help wondering what the hell *I* would do in that situation. And given Pleasance's superb performance, that brings out George's vulnerability, he had my sympathy (if not liking) all the way through. The playing is incredibly naturalistic, and I suspect there may be some improvisation there, particularly in that exceptionally long shot beach scene (a remarkably long take for a dialogue scene shot out of doors in England). The language is very natural, the conversation follows its own course, as is so often the way when people are drunk. Dorleac is absolutely gorgeous, playing straight into the camera (it stands in for the bedroom mirror) as she puts on her dress and makeup, and the tragedy of her loss - her early death - shines through with every breath she takes. And another star of the film is Lindisfarne Castle. What stunned me a few years ago when I was in Northumberland is that you can go over to Holy Island (tides permitting) and then you'll see the iconic outline of the Castle, then you climb up to it (up slopes much too steep to really push a Morris Minor!)and virtually every room is unchanged from the film. You still the big oak settle by the kitchen fireplace, you still see the curly wood posts on the bed, and those stairs with the column at the top, and lots of other places. Even settings that look like studio scenes are in fact real rooms you can see. There's nothing about the film in the displays in the castle though. Obviously this is not a movie that appeals to most National Trust members. That, I would say, is their loss. This has got to be one of the top ten best British films.

Rockwell_Cronenberg Roman Polanski's third feature Cul-De-Sac is a more comedic take on an age-old premise: a couple (Donald Pleasance and Francoise Dorleac) are put upon by a criminal on the run (Lionel Stander) and the film becomes a power game of their interactions. It doesn't have much in the way of narrative, but instead builds itself around the ups and downs of their power struggles and the way they confront one another, as a whole or in individual pairings. It starts off well enough with a solid opening act that had quite a few laughs, mostly thanks to Pleasance, but after a while it began to wear thin.The entire thing relies on your interest in the characters and their games of power and sexual undertones with one another, but I couldn't have cared less about any of them so I found myself dreadfully bored for most of it. The final act raised my interest a little bit as everything goes wildly out of control, but it took too long for me to get there. Lionel Stander is a solid presence, creating a very uneasy feeling whenever he walks in the room, but Dorleac and Pleasence began to grate on my nerves rather quickly. I've always been a big Polanski fan and he still shows here his ability to create a complete atmosphere that is fully in tune with his vision, along with his fetish for isolating his characters in secluded locations, but I unfortunately didn't care about the characters in a film that is all about them.