La mort en direct (1980)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Bertrand Tavernier

Writers:

David Compton (novel)
David Rayfiel (writer)

Release Date:

April 1982 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

She's the target of every eye...including eyes only science could create.

Plot:

Roddy has a camera implanted in his brain. He is then hired by a television producer to film a documentary of terminally ill Katherine...

Plot Keywords:

Television | Hidden Camera | Fictional Reality Show | Terminal Illness | Future

Awards:

1 win & 6 nominations

Cast

Romy Schneider	...	Katherine Mortenhoe
Harvey Keitel	...	Roddy
Harry Dean Stanton	...	Vincent Ferriman
Thérèse Liotard	...	Tracey
Max von Sydow	...	Gerald Mortenhoe (as Max Von Sydow)
Caroline Langrishe	...	Girl in the Bar
William Russell	...	Dr.Mason (as William Russel)
Vadim Glowna	...	Harry Graves
Eva Maria Meineke	...	Dr.Klausen
Bernhard Wicki	...	Katherine's Dad (as Bernard Wicki)
Freddie Boardley	...	Technician
Robbie Coltrane	...	Limosine driver
Julian Hough	...	Young doctor
Peter Kelly	...	Technician
Boyd Nelson	...	Policeman

Also Known As:

Death Watch (UK) (USA)
Death Watch - Der gekaufte Tod (West Germany)
Death in Full View
Deathwatch (USA)
Der gekaufte Tod (West Germany)

Runtime:

128 min

Country:

France | West Germany | UK

Language:

English | French | German

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-12 | UK:15 (video rating) (1988) | UK:AA (original rating) | USA:PG | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland, UK

Company:

Films A2

Trivia:

This is Robbie Coltrane's first motion picture.

Quotes:

Vincent Ferriman: Look how shy we've become about death. It's the new pornography.

Movie Connections:

References The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)

Prescient dark film - how long 'til we're watching "Deathwatch"?

This movie foretold the downside of the "reality TV" craze twenty years before it happened. Wonderful brooding cinematography around greater Glasgow at its most depressed. This is definitely a film which deserves to be in greater circulation and better known than it currently is. Romy Schneider's last film, ironically enough, and an excellent very real performance in a fairly artsy 70s vein. I should note I saw this in Glasgow some years ago, and it was the European cut, not what sounds to be a bowdlerized American version which misses some of the point.