Synopsis
You'd never take her for a call girl. You'd never take him for a cop.
A high-priced call girl is forced to depend on a reluctant private eye when she is stalked by a psychopath.
1971 Directed by Alan J. Pakula
A high-priced call girl is forced to depend on a reluctant private eye when she is stalked by a psychopath.
Jane Fonda Donald Sutherland Charles Cioffi Roy Scheider Dorothy Tristan Rita Gam Nathan George Vivian Nathan Morris Strassberg Barry Snider Betty Murray Shirley Stoler Robert Milli Anthony Holland Fred Burrell Richard B. Shull Mary Louise Wilson Marc Malvin Rosalind Cash Jean Stapleton Jan Fielding Antonia Rey Robert Ronan Richard Russell Ramos Sylvester Stallone Jerome Collamore Candy Darling Kevin Dobson Veronica Hamel Show All…
Una squillo per l'ispettore Klute, Klute - O Passado Condena, Klute - En smart snut, 柳巷芳草, Η Εξαφάνιση, נערת הטלפון והבלש, Klute, O Passado Condena, Клют, Клут, 콜걸, El pasado me condena, کلوت
LOVED THIS!!! jane fonda’s layered performance as bree is magnetic, constantly pushing and pulling; every capricious line delivery is a riveting surprise. she’s simultaneously blunt and charming, nervous and brave, cold and warm to the point that the film drags whenever she’s not lighting up the screen, the semi-tired mystery elements paling in comparison to the thrill of excavating bree’s character. the portrayal of sex work is also light years ahead of its time, being careful to acknowledge that bree’s waffling between quitting and continuing is rooted in her trauma from men’s violence rather than shame. trauma is also represented in a way that doesn’t shy away from the stark reality: bree wakes up screaming most nights, goes to therapy, and…
"He's seen my horrible. He's seen me ugly. He's seen me mean. He's seen me whorey. And it doesn't seem to matter. And he seems to accept me. And I guess having sex with somebody and feeling those sort of feelings towards them is very new to me. And I wish that I didn't keep wanting to destroy it."
jane fonda's performance is revelatory, she doesn't miss a step. i always bristle a little when a movie ties sex work to trauma as though it's only for damaged people, but for 1971 this film's attitude about bree's life is so respectful. she has a speech about the control and power she feels in sex work versus the powerlessness she feels…
wish i liked this more but i still liked it! jane fonda, what needs to be said? and that score is beautifully haunting. i can’t say it loses steam in the second half but it definitely doesn’t embrace what the first half had going for it. i think one of my biggest take aways is that adam driver is the sequel to donald sutherland.
Watched a very nice 35mm print of this film at the New Beverly last night. The compositions, lighting and camera moves are to die for.
Very groundbreaking up the Hollywood ending. Seems like Fonda was well aware of that. From IMDB trivia: Moments after winning her Academy Award, Fonda told reporters in the press room backstage: "I'm not very happy about what the picture is saying to women, which is if you get a good shrink and a good guy everything will turn out alright, and I don't think that's true."
should i stop dressing like a clown and start dressing like jane fonda in klute
I'm rather torn about this movie. On the one hand, it's lit and shot quite brilliantly and in a way that I find severely lacking in most of the movies I see today. On the other hand, I found the story to be a bit shaky and hit-or-miss, with some scenes really hitting it out of the park and some missing their mark entirely. Donald Sutherland and Jane Fonda give pretty great performances, and Fonda's character is interestingly complex. There are some hints at themes of surveillance and paranoia and the psychology of love. The problem for me was that ultimately it didn't feel like it all added up to anything coherent. I would definitely recommend this to anyone interested in the 70's noir revival aesthetic or anyone interested in hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold characters, but for me it was definitely the weak link in Pakula's paranoia trilogy. Good but not quite great.
"I'm the best actress in the world."
I like how Bree continues to go to therapy during all this. Essentially structured around a series of various types of interviews, which is great for giving Fonda one complicated monologue after another (all of which she nails) but has the side effect of the movie doing all your homework for you. As good as she is here, she's rarely not saying exactly how she feels or bluntly articulating the major themes of the movie. Pakula and Willis completely overpower that though by covering everything in a layer of dread, frequently dwarfing the characters in big scope frames and often alienating them from each other even when they're in the same shot.
i loved that the men were often incomprehensible black masses shot incredibly close up while jane fonda lit up the other half of the screen
also: jane fonda's snot <3
35mm. Metrograph.
The things that aren't hidden are. The things that are hidden aren't. What is immediate is opaque and unknowable. What is out of sight, out of reach will come to you, will be drawn forth by you. The sounds and the images don't match up. There are gaps in what is seen and what is heard. That which is unbroken is impassive. That which is broken is a flood or a vacuum. Frames, slabs, blocks, sheets. An icing over, what slides right off or skids to a stop. Grays, blacks, browns. Puritan colors. The colors of squares or of mourning or of winter. A place to dwell is a haunt. To record and play back is to induce a haunting.…