BODY DOUBLE
US, 1984, 109 minutes, Colour.
Melanie Griffiths, Craig Wasson, Gregg Henry.
Directed by Brian de Palma.
Body Double is another of Brian de Palma's homages to Alfred Hitchcock. With Sisters, Dressed to Kill, Blow Out, Obsession, de Palma imitated Hitchcock's films, most especially Vertigo with aspects of Psycho, Spellbound and Rear Window. Vertigo and Rear Window are very strong emphases here, along with a Dial M For Murder kind of murder and touches of Psycho. However, this film goes over the top. it would seem that de Palma has to be joking. The film almost veers into parody. However, despite the absurdity of the plot and characters, de Palma uses all his technical flourishes to emotionally involve his audience.
De Palma is also very strong on the reality/fantasy aspects of filmmaking. he sets his plot initially in a B-grade Dracula film and then moves it to the world of pornographic films. In the meantime he uses Rear Window and Vertigo in reverse and also draws out many of the sexual and violent implications in Hitchcock's films.
The film will certainly not be to everyone's taste as they are invited to share the voyeurism, the lusts, the snooping curiosity of the hero who does not suffer from vertigo but a kind of claustrophobia which has visual comparisons with James Stewart's vertigo.
A cinema eccentric curiosity.
1. Interest in the work of Brian de Palma? The body of his work? Thrillers, gory murders? Criticisms of his going over the top, excessive sequences of horror? His being influenced by Hitchcock, knowledge of Hitchcock's films, imitation, homage?
2. The film as an enjoyable exercise in clever takeoff and parody of '80s sex thrillers and Hitchcock's films? Enjoyable for film buffs?
3. De Palma's exploring themes of what you see and what you think you see, the way films work, images, sets, reality and unreality, fantasy? The impact of the opening sequence and the arrival on the set of a Dracula film? Audiences as voyeurs ? the nature of curiosity, mere snooping, involvement, manipulation? Especially in the areas of sexuality and violence? Set ups, manipulation? Disguises, the use of the actual body double, especially in sex scenes (reminiscent of the controversy about Angie Dickinson in Dressed
to Kill? Editing?
4. The background of Los Angeles: studios, auditions, affluence, homes, hotels, shops?
5. The musical score, romantic, strident, echoes of Hitchcock film scores? Moods, reality and unreality, manipulation, attention? drawing?
6. The Hitchcock influence and homage? Rear Window: the telescope, the voyeuristic man, his curiosity, its being played on? Jake's responses more real than those of James Stewart, more explicit, given expression? Curiosity, lust? The visuals of the telescope and the windows, the look of the various windows and the audience prying? Other windows, car windows, Jake's helplessness in seeing Gloria attacked, impossible to save her? Vertigo: Claustrophobia (and the explicit parallels with the vertigo shafts and Jake's corridors and graves?). The obsession, obsession with a dead woman? The elegant and mysterious heroine? The explicit nature of the sexuality of the mysterious heroine? The hero following the heroine around shops etc. in a car, on the beach? The violent death and the change of attitude? The heroine changing from dark to blonde, reversing the Vertigo change? The comparison in moral stances, helplessness to save the heroine? Claustrophobia and the demand for action at the end? His actually saving a heroine? Dial M for Murder: Phone death; Psycho and the brutal drill death? A tribute to Hitchcock or not?
7. The plot and its reality and unreality, the unreality of Hollywood, of B budget films? Wealth and actors out of work? Friends helping one another? Sexuality ? and kinkiness? The insertion of the drill murder, the dramatic impact, revulsion? The use of the pornography film world? The climax at the reservoir, reality and unreality? The framework of the Dracula filming?
8. De Palma's cleverness behind his writing and filming: the opening with the Dracula setting, the context of women being vampirised, sex and violence? Sam as a Dracula murderer? Jake as a would-be Dracula, a tailed Dracula? a transformed Dracula? The ugliness of the Dracula films, their silliness? Is de Palma's film any better than those it parodies? Classier? The opening sets, crudity, Jake staring at the audience, conventions of horror, sex? The visuals? The studio confrontation and Jake's being sacked? The end and his success and the eroticism and blood in the shower, Psycho with blood, the use of the body double? A cynical and satiric ending?
9.The world of pornography, the videos, television advertising, the effect on the audience of watching the material ? with Jake, making his obsession more credible? Holly Body and the skit on the porn queen, on television (and the skit on television advertising), the sex shops, the producers, the auditions, Jake's participation ? and the long skit on the pornography film? The reality of hard core material? Holly being hired because of her skills in this work?.
10. The gore traditions of the '70s and '80s horror and mass murder films? The use of the drill ? and echoes of such films as Friday the 13th? To what purpose?
11. Jake's character: out of work actor, B-budget films, being Dracula, his tears, discovery of Carol's infidelity, drinking, attack on Doug at the bar, being taken up by Sam , the effect of the long audition and the teacher trying to drain him emotionally, discussion about the house, his being asked to mind the luxurious (and unreal) mansion, Sam showing him the exhibitionist dancer, playing on his capacity for obsession? His obsession with the dancer and the way that the audience was enticed to watch with him? His following Gloria, her buying the panties, his taking them from the garbage tin, the beach, talking to her, the Indian snatching the purse, his running after the Indian, helplessness in the tunnel, lust for Gloria, watching her and then seeing the attempted murder, his trying to rescue her? The discussions with the police and the police highlighting his kinky behaviour? The discovery of Holly, involvement in the porn film, taking Holly home, discussing the issue with her, finding out the truth, trying to save her at the end? Unmasking Sam, fighting him? The irony of the dog in the truck, its destroying its master?
12. The contrast with Sam - his posing as the out of work actor, smooth routines, the set up in the house, his absences, phone calls and checking? The revelation of the truth? The literal unmasking in the grave? The make up as the Indian? The credibility of his motives, the credibility of his behaviour e.g. following Gloria, snatching her bag etc.? To reinforce Jake's story and make him a witness to the Indian killing Gloria?
13. Gloria as the object of obsession and the audience discovering that it was not she dancing? Wealth, lonely, wandering the shops, buying the panties and leaving them, the hotel and her desperateness, the encounter with Jake and her retraining, the ugliness of her death?
14. The contrast with Holly, cheeky, sex queen, blunt, her conditions about acting, the truth, her walking out, trying to get a hitchhike, the danger with the Indian, being put in the grave and being rescued? The body double of Gloria?
15. The police, their work - and the attitude of the policeman towards Jake and his brutal spelling out of Jake's obsession and kinky lust?
16. The film studio: the director and his manner, breaking trust, re-employing Jake? The fight and his ejection from the studio? The sequence in the acting school and the emotional brutality of the coach? The world of porn films? The actresses and the body double final sequence?
17. The blend of the real and the fantasy - especially in the grave sequences, with the director, with the Dracula film?
18. The final body double jokes, summing up the tone of the film?
