Customer Reviews

Cul-de-sac [VHS]

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Bizzare, to say the least about two gangsters, one critically wounded, who take to inviting themselves into an even more bizzare couple's castle home. Worthy follow up to Polanski's previous, "Repulsion" - the film that put him on the map for American audiences. Good cast, and hysterical to see a very serious, Donald Pleasence of "Halloween" fame dressed in drag with makeup. Oh, yes this is different...

"Cul-de-sac" is Roman Polanski's third feature, after "Knife in
Water" and "Repulsion." The movie was filmed in and around a castle
on the coast of north-east England that is cut off from the mainland
for a portion of every day when the tide changes. Here a pair of
wounded, on-the-run criminals invade the castle and impose
themselves on the slightly-bohemian couple living there. Like all of
Polanski's best films, it truly functions as a showcase for the
actors, and the central cast here is Donald Pleasence, Francoise
Dorleac, and Lionel Stander--a Brit, a Frog, and an American. There's
also a wonderful supporting performance by Irish actor Jack
MacGowran. However, it's Pleasance who steals the show. Like
Polanski's writing and direction here, Pleasance creates a real
tension between realism and delirious mania, thus maintaining a
moment-by-moment unpredictability that you simply can't take your
eyes off. It's one of the mysteries of cinema history why "Cul-de-
sac" has not survived well in the memories of critics nor found a
dedicated audience as have most other early Polanski films.

Polanski has searched for a long time until he had found at England's East coast "Holy Island", also known as "Lindisfarne". He was looking for an island, which one could reach at low tide, but which was cut off in high tide. He needed such a "Cul-de-Sac" (= dead end) as an ideal location for his story: A bank robber, Dickie (Lionel Stander), escapes to a castle in a desert. Donald Pleasence is living there together with Francoise Dorleac (the early deceased sister of Catherine Deneuve) and a huge number of chickens. The couple is practicing a bizarre sexual relationship. The disaster takes its run ...

Ridiculous that you cannot buy this in a DVD that plays on a regular DVD player--------