Romy
Schneider stars as a woman slowly dying from a mysterious illness. Harvey Keitel is a cameraman who gets a camera
implanted in his eye and accepts the job of watching her die. The footage is then broadcast to the masses
and is a rating bonanza.
Which
begs the question: Would watching people
slowly wasting away be considered must-see TV? I mean what do the networks do for sweeps
week? Show footage of people sitting in
the waiting room at the dentist?
With
Death Watch, director Bertrand Tavernier anticipated the advent of reality TV. That’s about the only thing he got right. This is one tedious, slow moving, and heavy-handed
movie. He takes a semi-fantastic premise
and does fuck-all with it. While the
set-up is admittedly intriguing, Tavernier’s lethargic pacing, coupled with a
narrative curiously lacking in urgency is a recipe for one long, boring slog of
a film.
There’s
a plot turn late in the game that involves Keitel going blind, which makes him
unable to broadcast Schneider’s death. The
movie’s so bad that you almost wish YOU went blind shortly after the opening
credits. The other twist that occurs
early in the third act is also predictable. If it ended right then and there, it might’ve
skated by with a One Star rating.
However, it keeps plugging along needlessly for another half-hour or so,
adding to an already restless experience.
Keitel
is sorely miscast as the cameraman. There’s one scene where he Keitels out while
looking for a flashlight, but for the most part he barely registers. There’s also zero chemistry between he and
Schneider, which doesn’t help. Her
character grates on your nerves almost instantly and she does little to gain
your sympathy.
It’s
hard to tell how all this played before reality TV was a thing. One thing is for sure: I’d rather watch that Kardashian crap or Survivor
than ever see this again. The only bright spot is Harry Dean Stanton as an unscrupulous
TV exec, but even his talents are frustratingly wasted in this dull,
exasperating mess.
AKA: Death in Full View.