Death Watch

Death Watch (French: La Mort en direct) is a 1980 science fiction film directed by Bertrand Tavernier. It is based on the novel The Unsleeping Eye by David G. Compton, also known as The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe. The film was entered into the 30th Berlin International Film Festival.[2] The film had 1,013,842 admissions in France and was the 35th most attended film of the year.[3]

Death Watch
Directed byBertrand Tavernier
Produced byGabriel Boustiani
Janine Rubeiz
Bertrand Tavernier
Written byDavid Rayfiel
Bertrand Tavernier
StarringRomy Schneider
Harvey Keitel
Harry Dean Stanton
Therese Liotard
Caroline Langrishe
William Russell
Vadim Glowna
Eva Maria Meineke
Bernhard Wicki
Max von Sydow
Music byAntoine Duhamel
CinematographyPierre-Wiliam Glenn
Edited byMichael Ellis
Armand Psenny
Distributed bySELTA Films
Little Bear
Sara Films
Gaumont
Antenne 2
TV 13 Munich
Quartet Films
(USA)
Release date
  • 1980 (1980)
Running time
128 minutes
CountryFrance
West Germany
LanguageEnglish
French
Box office$7.6 million[1]

Plot

The film is set in a future where death from illness has become rare. When Katherine Mortenhoe is diagnosed as having an incurable disease, she becomes a celebrity and is besieged by journalists. The television company NTV (headed by Vincent Ferriman) offers her a large sum of money if she will allow her last days to be filmed and made into a reality television show – they have already spied on her as she is told of her diagnosis (her doctor is colluding with them) and prepared posters for the show which show her face (to her annoyance when she sees the posters on display before they have contacted her).

Katherine pretends to agree but evades NTV's employees and goes on the run with the assistance of a casual acquaintance called Roddy. The audience knows – but she does not – that Roddy is, in fact, a senior NTV cameraman who has undergone an experimental surgical procedure which implants cameras and transmitters behind his eyes, so that everything he sees is relayed back to NTV, who use it as the basis for their reality show. Roddy has done this mainly for money to give his estranged wife and their son. A side-effect of the procedure is that he will go blind if he experiences more than a short period of darkness; he uses drugs to keep awake, has learned to sleep for brief periods with his eyes open, and carries a flashlight which he shines on his eyes at night. Meanwhile, Katherine's doctor has discovered that she is not actually dying and he informs NTV who tell no one and continue with the show, broadcasting an edited version of Roddy's feed.

Continuing on the lam, Katherine asks Roddy to take her to Land's End. The two arrive and sit on the beach and have a long talk. Katherine then asks Roddy to take her to town and buy her some lipstick. He persuades her to stay by the beach knowing that she will be recognized if she goes with him. In town, Roddy sees "Death Watch" playing in a pub and begins to cry. He returns to the beach as night is falling and has an emotional breakdown, losing his flashlight. Katherine comes to him and he asks her to help him. She finds the flashlight and shines it in his eyes, but he has already gone blind. Roddy admits who he is, and what he is doing, to her.

As the feed has ended to NTV due to Roddy's blindness, they send a helicopter to Land's End with a film crew to finally reveal to Katherine that she is not dying. However, Roddy and Katherine leave undetected as the helicopter arrives. Katherine takes Roddy to her husband's home in the country nearby. She has not seen her husband Gerald in 6 years. After the two stay overnight, Katherine and Gerald talk about their relationship as Roddy sleeps in a chair outside. NTV calls Gerald's home and after he speaks with them, he tells Katherine they are coming and that she is not dying and needs to stop taking the medicine she was given. Instead, Katherine takes all of it. Gerald is angry at first but finally accepts her decision. Roddy awakens and Gerald informs him that Katherine has died. NTV arrives by helicopter with producer Vincent and Roddy's wife in tow. Roddy and Gerald threaten to kill Vincent and he and the rest of the NTV crew leave with Roddy's wife staying behind. Roddy reconciles with his wife and introduces her to Gerald.

Filming

Much of the filming took place in and around Glasgow, including: Glasgow Necropolis, Glasgow Cathedral, the former Queen's Dock on the River Clyde and the Glasgow City Chambers. The film is dedicated to deceased film director Jacques Tourneur.

Home media

In 2012 Shout! Factory released the film on Blu-ray in Region 1, whilst Park Circus handled the Region 2 release.

Cast
gollark: People who generally care about things being secure and other people knowing things which might be helpful to them, I suppose.
gollark: You mean?
gollark: Realistically I am unlikely to convince Palaiologos (that is quite hard to type somehow) but I think highlighting the Ominosity™ is important.
gollark: But I agree with them, you see.
gollark: Yes, I can guess as much.

See also

References
  1. http://www.jpbox-office.com/fichfilm.php?id=7460
  2. "IMDB.com: Awards for Death Watch". imdb.com. Retrieved 20 August 2010.
  3. http://www.jpbox-office.com/fichfilm.php?id=7460&affich=france
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.