reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP (11/02/84)
Brian De Palma is a difficult case. He has talent; extrava-
gant amounts, in some areas. He knows how to move a camera
around, his films tend to be nicely shot and edited, and he's a
fine comedy director. But he has no taste and no shame and no
sensitivity. De Palma doesn't seem to care how women will feel
about seeing yet another female dismemberment in one of his
films. He has little concern for the tone of violence
towards women present in his films, or even the overabundance of
violence in general which they display. De Palma also rips off
Hitchcock in the most blatant manner. It's practically plagiar-
ism. De Palma is now even ripping off himself ripping off
Hitchcock.
"Body Double" doesn't indicate any changes at all. The sto-
ry is mostly stolen from "Vertigo", with a few burglaries on
"Rear Window". All that De Palma brings to the plot, in terms of
original material, is the background of the world of hardcore
pornography. Oh, he does the usual little tricks which he claims
are major differences. In "Vertigo", Jimmy Stewart was afraid of
heights, and this made the plot go. In "Body Double", the plot
depends on Craig Wesson's claustrophobia. I can't see how anyone
can legitimately claim this as anything but a feeble attempt to
hide a ripoff.
As usual, the plot is about women in danger. Also as usual,
there is gruesome violence, in this case involving a large elec-
tric drill. De Palma's attitude towards women again seems hos-
tile, as if he's out to get them, or, perhaps, is afraid that
they're out to get him. "Body Double"'s major innovation, for De
Palma, is a larger portion of sex.
The plot concerns an actor (Craig Wesson) who has just lost
his job, his girlfriend, and his apartment. Another actor sets
him up housesitting a fabulous mansion up in the Hollywood Hills.
One of the most interesting features of the house is the view,
especially through a telescope: every night, a beautiful woman in
a neighboring house puts on a spicy masturbation show at her win-
dow, apparently oblivious to watchers. For Wesson isn't the only
one watching: a sinister Indian is lurking about, apparently
after the jewels the woman flaunts in her performance.
Wesson becomes obsessed with the woman and the foreboding
stranger. His attempts to warn her of the impending danger and
the aftermath of those attempts form the basic plot of "Body Dou-
ble". Wesson finds himself involved in a mystery which leads him
into the world of pornography, and particularly to one porn flick
actress, played by Melanie Griffith. His investigations bring
him closer and closer to the truth, but also put him in danger.
The camera work in "Body Double" is largely superb. There
is a particularly fine sequence in which Wesson trails the woman
and the Indian through a ritzy shopping mall, the camera sweeping
ominously after Wesson as he tries to catch sight of the woman
and giving us glimpses of the Indian, who may be after either or
both of them. Though played in bright sunlight, De Palma is able
to generate more suspense in this sequence than most directors
can with a hoard of shadows and creaking doors. On the other
hand, there is a love sequence in which the camera swoops
and dips around the lovers, dollying in and out as well. The
overall effect of this scene is ludicrous, though it was obvious-
ly meant to convey the height of suppressed passion fulfilled.
This one lapse aside, though, De Palma's shot selection and cam-
era movement is highly commendable. Stephen H. Burum's cinema-
tography contributes strongly to the effect.
De Palma gets good, but unextraordinary, performances from
his actors. Wesson probably comes off best, but he also has the
best part. No one really stands out.
I can only recommend "Body Double" to film buffs who like
good technique and are willing to overlook deplorable themes and
story. The violence is more implied than shown, but still will
disturb those who have strong feelings against mayhem as an ele-
ment in entertainment. The sex scenes are only moderately expli-
cit, even by Hollywood standards, but the way some of them are
presented could easily offend. Within a scene, De Palma often
generates substantial suspense, but he fails to make it carry
over between scenes, largely because of an overly familiar plot
device.
De Palma has fallen into a common trap for filmmakers. He
has produced a technically fine film which, because of its con-
tent, is needlessly offensive to large numbers of people. Direc-
tors have been doing this since D.W. Griffith and "Birth of a Na-
tion", but usually a given director learns his lesson after the
first time. De Palma seems determined to repeat not only his
successes, but also his errors and plagiarisms.
--
Peter Reiher
reiher@ucla-cs.arpa
{...ihnp4,ucbvax,sdcrdcf}!ucla-cs!reiherlcliffor@bbncca.ARPA (Laura Frank Clifford) (11/05/84)
Another Hitchcockian touch DePalma added to "Body Double" is Melanie Griffith - she's Tippi Hedren's daughter.