Its yet another day, and its time to review yet another Brian De Palma Movie, that yet another homage, to Hitchcock. Sisters, an early 70s Brian De Palma tribute to Hitchcock, is a psychological horror movie with quite a few of De Palma’s fixations, like look-alikes, siblings, use of illusion, and with some of his and Hitchcock’s fixations, voyeurism, and of course, trailing or stalking.
Like most of De Palma’s movies, Sisters pays homage to Hitchcock’s classics, Rear Window, Psycho, and Vertigo. Though not as obvious as references to the other movies mentioned above , the end of the movie also has similarities to an older Hitchcock classic, Notorious.
Voyeurism is a recurring theme in the movie. The opening scene of the movie, are of a young creep ogling a blind woman who is just about to undress. It would turn out, that this is a scene out of what looks like,a combined adult themed mix of a reality show, a quiz show, and candid camera. De Palma, the master of illusion, once again plays one of his signature tricks on the viewer, by blending reality and illusion.
The man and woman are revealed to be a salesman, Philip Woode (Lisle Wilson), and Danielle ( Margot Kidder) , two aspiring actors. The two soon are later seen on a date, having dinner, and a talkative Danielle is narrating stories from her past, non stop to Phillip, with a strong French accent.
While some viewers may find her annoying, Phillip seems to be in love with her, attentively listening to her talk, and hanging on to every word. Their dinner is briefly interrupted by a strange spectacled man ( William Finley), who attempts to take Danielle away with him. Phillip complains to the staff, who drag away the protesting man. Danielle tells Phillip that the man is her ex husband Emil, who refuses to leave her alone, after the divorce
Phillip and Danielle retire to Danielle’s apartment on a high rise and after a while, Emil is seen, at the entrance of the building. Phillip feigns leaving the apartment, to make the jealous Emil leave with the impression that his ex wife and Phillip, were not spending that night, at her apartment. After Emil leaves, Phillip returns, and as the couple get initimate, a shot of Danielle’s thigh reveals a large scar of damaged tissue, probably caused by surgery.
The following morning, Phillip wakes up to the sound of voices. A woman’s voice is heard,reprimanding Danielle, for bringing her lover to the apartment. A hysterical Daniel, soon comes to Phillip and tells him, that her twin sister Dominique, is visiting her to celebrate her their birthday, which is on that day.
Danielle requests Phillip to run an errand for her. He is to go to a pharmacy and pick up a prescription for her. Phillip accepts, and picks up the medication at a pharmacy. Right next to the pharmacy, is a bakery, and Phillip, playing the well mannered gentleman, decides to buy the two sisters, a cake for their birthday. Phillip enters the bakery, buys the cake and asks one of the staff to inscribe a birthday greeting on the cake.
Upon returning to the apartment, Phillip finds a box in the kitchen with a number of sharp tools, including few large knives. Taking two knives and the cake with him to the bedroom, Phillip tries to wake up a sleeping Danielle. Abruptly, Danielle wakes up from sleep, takes one of the knives and starts stabbing Phillip.
Bady injured and barely conscious, Phillip, tries to crawl away, but Danielle easily gets hold of him, and continues to stab him. Using all his remaining strength, a profusely bleeding Phillip gets to a window, and writes the word,”help” with his finger on the glass, , using his own blood. Danielle pursues him, and continues her stabbing spree, taking away the little life that is still in him. In typical De Palma style, just as in one of his later movie, ‘Dressed to Kill‘ the plot introduces a central character at the beginning of the movie , and kills this character, somewhere halfway into the movie.
In the tradition of Hitchcock’s ‘Rear Window’, a neighbor of Danielle witnesses her comit the murder and calls the police. The witness is revealed to be Grace(Jennifer Salt), a passionate andcommitted reporter, looking for a sensational story. In the meantime, Emil comes to Danielle’s apartment and helps her remove any evidence of Phillip by hiding Phillip’s lifeless body in a sofa, and wipes away all the blood from the floor and walls.
In stereotypical fashion a police detective Kell,y arrives at the scene, does not trust Gloria’s allegations and then reprimands her when no evidence of a crime is found, in Danielle’s apartment. Gloria hires Larch, an investigator to break into Danielle’s apartment, in the latter’s absence to find evidence for the crime, she witnessed.
Another cliche suspense sequence, seen in many mystery movies ensues, where Danielle arrives with Emil and at the apartment and Larch manages to slip out, just in the nick of time. Larc hands a folder to Gloria, that he magically and conveniently found in the apartment. The folder contains a file from the Loisel Institute, with details on a surgery performed Canada’s first conjoined twins, Danielle and Dominique. Only Danielle has survived the surgery according to the file. The surgery was covered in an article, in Life magazine.
Gloria tracks down, and meets the author of article, who shares some disturbing details about the twins. Next Larc catches two individuals haul a couch from Danelle’s apartment, on to a van and then drive away in it. Larc tails them, all the way to Canada, to find out where they are taking the couch, which he suspects, has Phillipe’s body. Gloria tails Emil and Danielle to a mental hospital to uncover the truth. What exactly is the relationship between Danielle and Emil? Who killed Phillipe? Was it Danielle or was her allegedly diseased sister, Dominique? The rest of the plot answers these questions. ‘Sisters’, is a chilling psychological thriller with some terrifying imagery, that blurs the lines between hallucination and reality.
One scene where a disturbed, sedated Gloria, is taken away by two individuals is very reminiscent of a scene from the old Hitchcock thriller, ‘Notorious’. The truth behind all the mystery is finally revealed through Gloria’s hallucinatory dream. The ending of the movie is unexpected, offbeat and unique.
The cinematography in the movie is spectacular. De Palma ‘s use of split screens and point of focus techniques in some scenes, accentuates the riveting intrigue in the movie. The standout performance in the movie comes from Margot Kidder, who transitions effortlessly, from the talkative Danielle, to the psychopathic, Dominique. William Kinley effectively plays the fearsome evil doctor, Emil. Catherine Gaffigan is most effective, in her small role as Arlene, a patient at the mental hospital. Sisters is yet another highly recommended mystery thriller, from one of the greatest masters of illusion, De Palma.
