Death Watch

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source: Death Watch

If Harvey Keitel with camera eyes doesn't creep you out, then the concept of "deathwatching", a reality show premise if there ever was one, certainly will. This prescient film certainly seems to foretell the advent of TV exploitation of personal identity, complete with a team of producers manipulating events to wring the most dramatic scenes out of its victims. You could argue that Katherine signed off on it, as all of today's reality-show contestants do, but we're not seeing the most watchable scenes as we do on a reality show, instead this film shows long, boring stretches of time, self-reflection, bickering, and routine mundane details such as sleeping in a hostel or riding on a bus, intended to convey a sense of impending doom I suppose. At one point Keitel is wracked with guilt at betraying Katherine's trust, but by that point it seems rather disingenuous and artificial. Max von Sydow is wonderful, as he is in everything he does, and here he makes the most of a small but important role as he tries to give Katherine some dignity. All in all, the film doesn't go deeply enough into the characters for me to care about any of them.

This was listed on a commercial station (55- in NYC- thank you!) and was played with mercifully few breaks. Still! An amazing, timely, quite profound and haunting movie. As mentioned elsewhere it is a bit ponderous and does meander, but the best moments are gorgeous. Spoiler?: (Harvey catching sight of the intimate moments he's filmed in a grocery store and realizing the betrayal of trust he has engineered.) The brief soliloquoy by Max Von Sydow on the lack of 'meaning' in life- which somehow is comforting! The version that another commentor mentions wherein Romy (and without you other cineastes I wouldn't know that this was Romy's last film- what a waste!) is not dying- is just being set up- that would make perfect sense. Harry Dean is fabulous- why doesn't he work more? Please consider upping the rating of this.

I'm saddened that no one seems to remember Romy Schneider-- at least in the USA they don't. Arguably the most beautiful woman who ever lived, she deserves a place next to Ingrid Bergman, Sophia Loren, Bardot, and Liz, among others, as one of the great screen beauties. This is not her best film and she was a bit past her prime at this point, but anything with Romy is worth seeing. Haunting to watch knowing that she died soon after. The film itself is highly flawed, which is a shame because it had all the right elements-- great director, brilliant cast, fascinating script. What went wrong? Would be interesting to see if someone else can make a successful remake. Perhaps in the hands of Mr. Minghella?... but more likely they'd give it to a Hollywood director who would cast Meg Ryan in the Romy Schneider part. So, let's leave well enough alone. Please.

This European science fiction story reminded me in many ways of Fassbinder's "World on a Wire," the starkness, the deliberate pacing, and the art house pretensions all within a clever sci-fi premise. However, Fassbinder made his film engaging, suspenseful and also thought provoking. This film, while thought provoking, is dreadfully dull. The story here has TV producer Harry Dead Stanton sending reporter Harvey Keitel (who has camera implants in his eyes with special x-ray properties) to interview a dying writer, Romy Schneider. The film does pose interesting questions about privacy and independence in a society where both are eroding. This topic is made all the more interesting and prescient today, in the age of Google Glass and social media. Unfortunately, the film moves as a leadened pace and is populated with uninvolving characters, despite three strong actors in the leads, along with Max Von Sydow in a supporting role. This film does have it's defenders, but I found it pretentious and dull, though it may be that I'm just not a fan of writer/director Bertrand Tavernier, whose only film I've ever liked was "Coup de torchon."

Science fiction films in recent years have been noticeably lacking both credible science and original fiction, but this multi-national production is a startling exception, presenting a complex tale of emotional manipulation that engages the imagination without the crutch of special effects. The intriguing plot, set in a recognizable near future where medical advances have completely eliminated the threat of natural death, follows a young volunteer (Harvey Keitel) who after having experimental micro-cameras implanted into his eyes agrees to follow a woman known to have a rare, incurable disease, in order to record on video her final days for the entertainment of a desensitized and nostalgic TV audience. Despite the morbid premise (anticipating by two decades the current glut of tacky, ersatz 'reality TV' programming) it's a surprisingly life-affirming movie, maintaining a mood of cautious optimism even while prophesying dark days just around the corner.

I just finished watching this movie in a pitch black room and boy was it dark.Several sequences bordered on the invisible as Harvey Keitel descends into a cameraman´s room 101. Romy Schneider a revelation and spreading compassion on all throughout. The cityscapes are glorious and the faceless people of Glasgow add to the alienation expressed by the script. Excellent shift of pace as Max von Sydow enters to fulfill Romy Schneiders dreams. Great cast, though Harry Dean Stanton under-used, and a sin that this is not more widely recognised.

I don't know if it is on video, but I wish I could watch this film again, after 20 years the idea still feels fresh and alive. even though there is truman show, it is not even getting close to the greatness of this film. Today, I have told a writer who is working on a cyberfilm script, to go watch this film first. technology is only a tool (most scifi films tend to forget) in telling the story of 2 suffering souls. The humans are not lost behind the scifi gimmicks, the film is about us humans. watch this film, you really won't be disappoi

I love this film, and have seen it several times on video and even once at a repertory cinema in Vancouver. I'm in Japan at the moment, and just picked up an old Japanese video release of it here from a second-hand store. Here's a shock -- the version of the film available here has some significant DIFFERENCES from the North American in print. There are some minor scenes that were cut from the North American release -- Keitel announcing a commercial break and shining his shoes, which he tells Stanton are made of ostrich, is a scene I sure don't recall in the N. American version, or Romy Schneider telling Max von Sydow how she loves to see the moon come out during the day. But there's also a significant plot point that differs, too -- conveyed by a few brief scenes and lines that are NOT in the American version (WARNING: spoilers follow). (I mean, it HAS been years since the last time I saw it, so maybe I've just forgotten the film, but I really don't think so). KATHERINE IS NOT ACTUALLY DYING, in the movie; she has been deceived by the doctors and the TV crew. We think she really is sick all along, but in fact she is being tricked, with the plan of "rescuing her" later in the series. The doctors reveal this shortly after Keitel blinds himself -- they have a conversation that goes like, "Do you think he should have been told that she's not really dying?" It's the medicine she's been prescribed; IT is making her sick. When Stanton calls the Mortenhoe residence, and Mortenhoe tells Katherine that "they're on the way," von Sydow has lines about how "it's all a mistake, you're not really sick, it was all a stunt -- you just have to stop taking the medicine!" So when Stanton and the TV crew and such are racing to Mortenhoe's in the helicopters, they're coming, in part, to "rescue" Katherine; and her decision to take all the pills and commit suicide, to ruin them, plays VERY DIFFERENTLY in this context. Maybe it was felt North American audiences couldn't handle it? If any of you can confirm that I'm not nuts here, and that the film I've just described is quite DIFFERENT from the US version, PLEASE e-mail me. One easy way to test would be to check out the runtime on the video release back there -- the original one, from way back when, I think on Embassy. The runtime is NOT 128 minutes (the version I watched actually is). All told, the international cut is slower, meanders more, but is ultimately the superior version, carrying Katherine's defiance out more fully. I recommend it, if you can actually find it. If you're curious, no, it isn't in print here anymore.