Sisters [Criterion Collection]

Director: Brian De Palma Brian De Palma

Overview

A reporter gets more than she bargained for when she tries to prove that a murder has occurred in Brian De Palma's disturbing thriller. Danielle (Margot Kidder) meets Phillip (Lisle Wilson) on a "Peeping Tom"-themed game show and, dodging her ex-husband Emil (William Finley), takes him back to her apartment. But Danielle has a separated Siamese twin sister, Dominique, who is not pleased about the overnight guest. Journalist neighbor Grace (Jennifer Salt) sees Phillip slaughtered by one of them through her window; the body vanishes before she can convince a skeptical detective (Dolph Sweet) to take a look. Determined to prove that she's right (and get a career-advancing story), Grace investigates, assisted by a private eye (Charles Durning), and becomes more involved in the relationships among Danielle, Dominique, and Emil than she ever expected.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/23/2018
UPC:	0715515222419
Original Release:	1973
Rating:	R
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	1
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono, Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:32:00
Sales rank:	17,834

Special Features

New 4k digital restoration, approved by Director Brian DePalma; New interview with actor Jennifer Salt; Interviews from 2004 wtih DePalma, actors Bill Finley and Charles Durning, Editor Paul Hirsch and Producer Edward R. Pressman; Audio from a 1973 discussion with De Palma at the American Film Institute; Appearance from 1970 by actor Margot Kidder on The Dick Cavett Show; Photo Gallery and radio spots; Plus: An essay by critic Carrie Rickey, excerpts from a 1973 interview wiht De Palma on the making of the film and a 1973 article by the Director on working with Compose Bernard Herrmann

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Margot Kidder	Danielle Breton
Jennifer Salt	Grace Collier
Charles Durning	Joseph Larch
Bill Finley	Emil Breton,Emil Breton
Lisle Wilson	Phillip Woode
Barnard Hughes	Mr. McLennen
Mary Davenport	Mrs. Collier
Dolph Sweet	Detective Kelley
Kristina Rose	Actor
Vicki Chase	Actor
Ariella Ferrera	Actor
Bernard Herrmann	Composer

Technical Credits

Brian De Palma

Louisa Rose

Gregory Sandor

Brian De Palma	Director,Screenwriter
Louisa Rose	Screenwriter
Edward R. Pressman	Producer
Dick Vorisek	Sound Effects,Sound/Sound Designer
Sylvia Fay	Casting
Gregory Sandor	Screenwriter

Scene Index

Disc #1 -- Sisters
255. Chapters
1. Opening Titles [2:06]
2. Peeping Toms [4:20]
3. African Room [3:59]
4. Alexander Hamilton [5:55]
5. Morning After [5:17]
6. Pills and Cake [4:29]
7. "Make a Wish" [4:14]
8. Cleanup [6:20]
9. In the Name of the Law [8:53]
10. Date with Mother [5:02]
11. Modern Investigation [4:57]
12. Morbid Fascination [4:37]
13. Blanchion Twins [3:09]
14. Experimental Madhouse [5:40]
15. Margaret [3:35]
16. Open Your Eyes [:48]
17. Separations [7:11]
18. A Ridiculous Mistake [7:11]
1. Color Bars [4:44]
0. Chapters
1. Chapter 1 [24:05]
0. Chapters
1. Chapter 1 [26:30]
0. Chapters
1. Chapter 1 [8:55]
0. Chapters
1. Chapter 1 [3:30]

Menu

Disc #1 -- Sisters
   Play the Movie
   Interviews
      Jennifer Salt, 2018
      The Autopsy, 2004
         Play
      Brian De Palma at the AFI, 1973
         Brian De Palma at the AFI, 1973: On
         Brian De Palma at the AFI, 1973: Off
      Margot Kidder on The Dick Cavett Show, 1970
   Photo Gallery
   Radio Spots

Editorial Reviews

Subtle psychological tension is punctuated by some kitchen-knife slashing in Brian De Palma's underrated thriller Sisters. Margot Kidder plays Danielle Breton, a model/actress in New York City whose romantic life is complicated by her demented -- and violent -- twin sister. De Palma's flair for the choreography of suspense is completely on display here, most notably in a few beautifully engineered split-screen sequences (a technique he would employ again in Carrie). Also typically De Palma are the shades of Alfred Hitchcock in Sisters, including a few scenes straight out of Rear Window and a haunting score by longtime Hitchcock collaborator Bernard Herrmann. The performances are all solid if low-key, save for Kidder's. And while the story unfolds rather slowly, it packs several clever twists capped off by a brilliantly off-kilter hypnosis sequence, resulting in an effective thriller that stands among De Palma's best films.

Barnes & Noble - Gregory Baird

In Sisters, Brian De Palma reworks elements of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and Rear Window to tell a timely and eerie tale about the fate of women who deviate from normalcy in ways that go beyond stabbings and voyeurism. Using split screens to ratchet up the suspense, De Palma also hints at a kinship between Grace and Danielle, as they are both patronized by various male authority figures. Bernard Herrmann's foreboding score adds to the Hitchcockian atmosphere (as does the darkly humorous final shot), but the nightmarishly surreal visit to a mental hospital signaled the technical virtuosity (and gore) that would characterize De Palma's subsequent work. Shot for little money, Sisters became quite profitable, establishing De Palma's directorial standing after a handful of little-seen independent films and one Hollywood debacle with Get to Know Your Rabbit (1970). Although Carrie (1976) would surpass it at the box office, Sisters is remarkable proof of De Palma's visual skill and ability to creep out his audience.

All Movie Guide - Lucia Bozzola