Death and the Maiden (1994)

Director:

Roman Polanski

Writers (WGA):

Ariel Dorfman (play)
Rafael Yglesias (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

3 March 1995 (Spain)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Prepare yourself for the moment of truth.

Plot:

A political activist is convinced that her guest is a man who once tortured her for the government.

Plot Keywords:

Closed Society | Torture | Rape Confession | Music | Falsely Accused Of Rape

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Sigourney Weaver	...	Paulina Escobar
Ben Kingsley	...	Dr. Roberto Miranda
Stuart Wilson	...	Gerardo Escobar
Krystia Mova	...	Dr. Miranda's Wife
Jonathan Vega	...	Dr. Miranda's Son
Rodolphe Vega	...	Dr. Miranda's Son
Gilberto Cortés	...	String Quartet Player (as Gilberto Cortes)
Jorge Cruz	...	String Quartet Player
Carlos Moreno	...	String Quartet Player
Eduardo Valenzuela	...	String Quartet Player
Sergio Ortega Alvarado	...	String Quartet Manager

Also Known As:

Jeune fille et la mort, La (France)

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

UK | USA | France

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 (video rating) | Iceland:14 (original rating) | UK:18 | South Korea:18 | Brazil:12 | Australia:R | Finland:K-16 | Germany:12 (bw) | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/16 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Chile

Company:

Canal+

Trivia:

In Bulgaria the movie's title is translated as "Dr Death".

Goofs:

Continuity: Dr. Miranda's moustache changes inconsistently throughout the movie.

Quotes:

Dr. Roberto Miranda: How can I confess to something I haven't done?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Psych: 65 Million Years Off (#2.2)" (2007)

Soundtrack:

SCHUBERT STRING QUARTET IN D MINOR

an absorbing, relentless psychothriller

"Death and the Maiden" begins in a purposely disorienting way--a woman walks around her secluded, South American villa, preparing dinner, when the power suddenly goes out. Her husband is returned home by a stranger after his car gets a flat; later, after assuaging his wife's spastic bouts of unexplained paranoia, the stranger returns with the husband's spare tire. The husband, wanting to reward the man's generosity, invites him in for a drink. The wife, who is extremely on edge, escapes the house undetected and steals the stranger's car, pushing it off a cliff and into the ocean below. After this, the film settles down into a three-character psychodrama of the highest order.

Roman Polanski, a director who can mine tension with a bare minimum of means, uses deliberate lighting, specific camera angles, and a well-paced narrative to create a film where the suspense is endlessly being ratcheted up a notch, often in ways that are quite surprising. The wife, Paulina (Sigourney Weaver), suspects the stranger (Ben Kingsley) of raping and torturing her years ago; her husband, Gerardo (Stuart Wilson), is a lawyer who is enlisted to get the man's confession. The game of psychological cat-and-mouse that ensues is absorbing.

Both Kingsley and Wilson fare well in their roles, but it is Weaver who energizes the film. Her performance is absolutely (this deserves all caps) RUTHLESS, filled with moments of raging violence, icy detachment, and degradation (emphasized in graphic recollections of torture); if you thought Ellen Ripley was fearless in the face of the Queen Alien, "Death and the Maiden" shows an altogether different kind of tough exterior for the actress. In a way, I was reminded of the graphic revenge that took place in the infamous rape drama "I Spit on Your Grave"; while "Death and the Maiden" is superior, it is just as similarly driven (though the rape and torture is left to our imaginations), and its psychological edge, matched with top-drawer performances, moves it further from a 'filmed play' and into more visceral terrain. And, as he's so good at doing, Polanski keeps us guessing till the very end.

Highly recommended.