SISTERS (1972)

Brian de Palma has a pretty impressive back catalogue of directorial work, helming projects including Al Pacino’s Scarface, the first Mission Impossible and, my personal favourite, mob flick, The Untouchables. However, before all of those, de Palma directed a homage to Hitchcock’s Psycho, complete with a score from composer Bernard Herrmann, in the form of low-budget slasher film, Sisters. Starring Margot Kidder of Superman fame and Jennifer Salt from Midnight Cowboy, Sisters tell the story of conjoined twins, Danielle and Dominique. Kidder offers up a warm performance with a naive Danielle, while sporting a cute French accent. Having been separated successfully in an operation, Danielle is the nicer of the two whereas Dominique appears to have psychotic tendencies. Including murder.

Dominique’s murder of Danielle’s lover is witnessed by Salt’s journalist, Grace. A clever use of split screen exudes tension as we see Danielle trying to hide the body and Grace leading two police officers up to her apartment, all at the same time. Of course, upon entering the apartment, the body is nowhere to be seen and Grace is left looking like a timewaster. It may seem like a long set-up to get to the crux of the film - Grace trying to uncover the truth behind the murder she witnessed - but the film seems to chug along at a rather natural pace.

After this sequence, the film takes a large risk in changing protagonists from this point - for the first half hour or so of the film, we follow Danielle’s life as a model to her relationship with her ex-husband and current lover. However, after the lover’s murder, de Palma chooses to switch viewpoints and uses Grace as our eyes for the rest of the movie. Grace is, unfortunately, not as interesting as Danielle, but thankfully her investigation into the twins is compelling. The film leads to an inevitable showdown at a mental hospital; a showdown that loses its pace and sense of threat as it divulges into a messy dream sequence. De Palma’s choice to homage Hitchcock works well overall, yet brings down some elements of the film, including the choice of switching-up protagonist and a lacklustre third act. Score: 59/100