The first half of this film, made when Natalie Wood was still alive, is quite good. The story comes together quite well as the tale of a couple that is in the midst of divorce. The husband, Dr. Anthony Brace, (Christopher Walken) is an employee at a company that does cutting edge research, and he has been mentored his entire career by Dr. Lillian Reynolds (Louise Fletcher). Brace and his wife (Natalie Wood) have a son together, but their relationship has come apart, and whenever they are together there is nothing but arguing and bitterness. Reynolds and Brace are currently working on a device that allows you to actually feel what someone else is experiencing. One night, while working all alone in the lab, Dr. Reynolds has a massive coronary. Realizing this is the end, she puts on the device, starts the recording session of her experiences, and dies. The rest of the film is a battle for Dr. Reynolds' "death tapes" and the use of the recording device. It is after the point of Reynolds' death that the film gets very splintered. It is hard to see just where the film is going because the decision to go on to the end with the film that contained Wood and not start over with another lead actress severely limited the editors in what they had to work with since reshoots of most scenes were now out of the question. Natalie Wood died in the autumn of 1981, and it was almost two years later before the finished product of this film arrived.
Some sci-fi type films that are this old are either irrelevant or so laughably outdated that they are pure camp. Because this film focuses on the idea of the possibilities of healing relationships and even getting a new lease on life by experiencing life through the eyes of others rather than the technology, this film has held up pretty well over time. It just makes me wonder how truly great the film could have been if Natalie Wood had lived.
Some sci-fi type films that are this old are either irrelevant or so laughably outdated that they are pure camp. Because this film focuses on the idea of the possibilities of healing relationships and even getting a new lease on life by experiencing life through the eyes of others rather than the technology, this film has held up pretty well over time. It just makes me wonder how truly great the film could have been if Natalie Wood had lived.