Director: Brian De Palma
Year Released: 1973
Rating: 2.5
It had me for a while: despite the 70's camp and Margot Kidder's quasi-fake French accent I was intrigued: where is De Palma going with this? References to Hitchcock abound, and De Palma finds a way to integrate the Master's more ominous films (Psycho, Rope and Rear Window) into the story of two identical twin sisters (Kidder) who get in a bit of trouble when a nosy reporter from the building across the way thinks she sees a murder take place in their apartment. The film takes some twists and turns, though if you're familiar with Hitch's films or film in general you'll probably figure out most of them. It really isn't until the third act that the film completely succumbs to utter idiocy, complete with its armchair psychoanalysis, horribly overwrought performances and a scene involving a "dirty" telephone that Howard Hughes would find intolerable. While I admire De Palma's visual flourishes (notably the effective use of split screen), the dream sequence at the end is too much icing, so to speak. As to why this is such a "noted" picture - enough so for Criterion to tinker with it - is truly beyond me.
