AND LOU LUMENICK CALLS IT 'ONE OF THE GREATEST '70S MOVIES'
Arrow Films has posted a page for its Blu-Ray edition of Brian De Palma's Obsession, with a stated June 27 release date. However, it does not say anything about a standard DVD version (perhaps that may be released in August?). In any case, we now know that the short films included in the package will be De Palma's Woton's Wake and The Responsive Eye. Also included will be Paul Schrader's original uncut screenplay "in a perfect bound booklet," and a two-sided fold out poster.
Meanwhile, with the De Palma Suspense series going on at BAM, the New York Post's Lou Lumenick has declared his obsession for Obsession, even though he dislikes most of De Palma's other films. Lumenick thinks Obsession is one of the greatest films of the '70s, but was afraid that, watching it again after so many years, it might not hold up. To his delight, it did indeed:
Why does "Obsession'' stand out? I think it's because of screenwriter Paul Schrader, who shared DePalma's obsession with "Vertigo'' and wrote this movie just before his other '80s masterpiece, "Taxi Driver'' (which had Bernard Herrmann's final score). DePalma and Schrader sadly never worked together again. Reportedly, they had a falling out when DePalma, on Herrmann's advice, decided to scrap an epilogue set a decade after the main story (Schrader's original script, "Deja Vu,'' can be found on the French Blu-ray edition, which hopefully will be released in the U.S. by Sony).
The film's theatrical distributor, Columbia Pictures, understandably had some reservations about the movie's incest angle. DePalma brilliantly decided to turn Robertson and Bujold's wedding (their cake is a brilliant visual gag) and wedding night into a dream sequence. Subtlety is a not a term that can often be applied to DePalma's other work, but it's this uncharacteristic restraint that helps make "Obsession'' his masterpiece. The only time I met DePalma -- at a junket for his 1986 comedy "Wise Guys'' -- he seemed puzzled that someone would love what he considered one of his less successful movies.
Posted by Geoff
at 9:22 PM CDT
Updated: Monday, April 11, 2011 6:37 PM CDT
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Updated: Monday, April 11, 2011 6:37 PM CDT
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