Product Details

• Actors: Donald Pleasence, Lionel Stander, Jacqueline Bisset, Françoise Dorléac
• Directors: Roman Polanski
• Format: Import, NTSC, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Subtitles: Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0014F9V0U
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #42,801 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Synopsis: The fact that there isn't a single likeable character in Cul de Sac does not diminish its artistic value in the least. Ageing, furtively kinky Donald Pleasence is married to sexy young Francoise Dorleac. The couple's hermitlike tranquility is shattered when wounded gangsters Jack MacGowan and Lionel Stander invade their home and hold them hostage. As Dorleac urges her tremulous husband to do something, the two criminals begin behaving in a fashion that can only inadequately be described as eccentric. Drawing upon two of Polanski's favorite themes-isolation and latent insanity--Cul de Sac actually improves upon each viewing, assuming that the viewer has the intestinal fortitude to sit through it once.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Polanski's Jewel, July 8, 2008

By 

J. Laiter (NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cul-De-Sac (Callejon Sin Salida) aka (Cul De Sac) [NTSC/REGION 1 & 4 DVD. Import-Latinm America] (DVD)

The unavailability of this flick in DVD is proof of just how under rated this early Polanski masterpiece remains.
Cul de Sac is the second major feature of the Polish director produced and filmed away from his motherland, a condition that would so decisively mark the character of all his films. The human condition with all it's drama and comedy is portrayed with constant scrutiny into deeper and deeper layers of the human psyche. Obsession, Perversion, brutality or silliness begin to be addressed here and would later become recurring themes all the way into his blockbuster features. In removing the rug under our feet Polanski is a Master and by setting up the simplest yet most delirious situations Cul de Sac would be in my opinion the peak of his creative force. It deals with the awkward intrusion of two gangsters into the life of a couple with marital issues which results in something like Bergman meets Film Noir. One of cinema's true Jewels still awaiting for a proper reception from both audiences and critics. Incredible that no US version exists! Just imports like this Mexican version.

4.0 out of 5 stars finally got my mitts on this film on DVD..!, April 24, 2008

By 

S. Boone "TheatreX" (Louisville, KY) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cul-De-Sac (Callejon Sin Salida) aka (Cul De Sac) [NTSC/REGION 1 & 4 DVD. Import-Latinm America] (DVD)

I've waited to see "Cul-de-sac" for many years, but it's been unreleased in the U.S., for whatever reason. Now along comes this region 1 & 4 release, & so I ordered it and I wasn't disappointed. The DVD itself is very nice, no frills but just turn off the Spanish subtitles (or don't) and it's a very nice transfer. The film itself is rather strange, sort of a comedy/thriller, with Donald Pleasance and his wife as hostages of criminal Lionel Stander, who is waiting for rescue from whatever debacle he's gotten himself into, and instead being treated to this couple's obnoxious vistors and their own uh, quirky kinks. Pleasance is a real wimp but eventually realizes that they can get the upper hand on this crook, etc... Worth seeing if you're a Polanski fan, as for others, well, I don't know that there'd be a lot of interest. I would need to watch this at least a couple more times, because it didn't quite grab me like some of Polanski's earlier work (Knife in the Water, Repulsion), but it does have a certain something to it that made it worth seeing. 4 out of 5 stars.