My first introduction to Brian De Palma was the movie Scarface (1983), which Matt Lynn Digital holds as quality cinema in this review from October 2020. Moving backwards in time eleven years offers a trippy movie clearly inspired by the mystery thriller movie genre pioneered by Alfred Hitchcock with a clear and gleeful foray into the slasher film yet to come in Hollywood with the movie Sisters (1972).
Margot Kidder stars as conjoined twin sisters Danielle and Dominique Blanchion in the independently made, low-budget Sisters. The films opening credits offer shocking images that hint at part of the background of the Blanchion sisters would mean in the telling of the story inspired by facts that only later give the psychological punch that offers the film and reputation De Palma would establish for himself meaning. The disquiet, edgy qualities are central, effective and worth a viewing for this film.
Before getting into the backstory of the Blanchion sisters portrayed by Kidder, we at first are introduced to Phillip Woode, who is portrayed by Lisle Wilson. Woode and Danielle Wilson cross paths through an odd circumstance wherein their backgrounds are unknown to one another with a mutual attraction that offers the opportunity for intimacy. To earn that outcome, however, the two need to act cunningly against the prying eyes that we only later learn belong to Grace Collier and Emil Breton. Jennifer Salt portrayed Collier as William Finley portrayed Breton in the movie.
The character of Breton feels like a stalker from the beginning of the movie. While that feeling is relevant, the trippy role he plays in supporting that feeling in the larger narrative that the movie offers definitely holds hope over time. The shocking parts of the movie intersect strongly with the stories we get from Joseph Larch, Arthur McLennen and Detective Kelly.
Charles Durning portrayed Joseph Larch in Sisters. Barnard Hughes portrays magazine writer Arthur McLennen. Dolph Sweet portrays police Detective Kelly. The mysteries, suspense and slasher thrills of the movie Sisters, with the slasher components being one place where De Palma separates himself from Hitchcock, are told in many ways through the changes in experience for many of the movies characters. This fact, combined with the psychological impact for much of the movie, gives the movie the punch that allows me to bring this movie to you.
The larger cinematic experience and narrative of the movie, along with the exposition for most of the characters, are strengths for the movie. Not everything in the film necessarily ages well, in looking back on the film with contemporary lenses. That the ending felt abrupt to me perhaps was a matter of budget in the making of the film more than a shortcoming of the larger vision of the film. All told, I rate Sisters at 3.75-stars on a scale of one-to-five.
Matt – Saturday, January 16, 2021
Matt Lynn Digital 