Released at a time when the likes of DOCTOR ZHIVAGO and THE SOUND OF MUSIC were tearing up the box-office and winning oodles of Oscars, CUL-DE-SAC has more going on than both of those bloated epics combined. Assembling one of the most sublime casts imaginable, Roman Polanski apes his earlier KNIFE IN THE WATER by having a couple's seemingly idyllic relationship interrupted ---this time by two interlopers...a hooligan and his infirm sidekick. The couple's already precarious relationship begins to crack and ultimately shatters in a climax of distrust and panic. But not before giving their guests an unexpected run for their money. Donald Pleasence and Francoise Dorleac make a truly odd couple and, as the hoods, Lionel Stander and Jack MacGowran, are alternately menacing and pathetic. It's great to see the always interesting Stander land such a plum role. CUL-DE-SAC is probably the most cutting movie Polanski has ever made. Never too successful with comedy, Polanski infused this movie with a good deal of humor, albeit always very black. One of the films highlights has Dorleac putting a match to some paper she's stuffed between Stander's toes!
Review of Cul-de-sac
