Sisters (1972)

[6]

Margot Kidder (Superman: The Movie) and Jennifer Salt star in director Brian De Palma’s blatant love letter to Alfred Hitchcock. De Palma starts the movie off in a Psycho-like fashion, introducing us to an actress (Kidder) who takes a man home for a one-night stand. After we spend a good twenty minutes or so with the lovers, a woman in an apartment across the street (Salt) witnesses Kidder murdering the man. The woman tries to get the police to investigate Kidder and ends up hiring a detective to help her expose Kidder’s crime. A conjoined twin and abusive psychotherapy fall into the mix before Sisters becomes a twist-a-minute exercise in suspense porn. I don’t mean that in a bad way. At least, I don’t think I do.

Sisters isn’t a traditional thriller or drama. Those try to lure you in and hold you in their spell. Sisters, and many De Palma films for that matter, are so stylistically overwrought that it’s hard to get absorbed in the content when the form and design keeps drawing attention themselves. I was so constantly aware of De Palma’s directorial touch, that the movie became kinda funny to me. Again — not sure if that’s a bad thing. The most remarkable thing about the movie is just how many Hitchcock homages and influences can be found. In that regard, it succeeds at parody more than Mel Brook’s High Anxiety.

You know what kind of movie it is pretty early on. I knew when Hitchcock’s long-time composer Bernard Herrmann introduces a theremin in the soundtrack. So at that point you’re either in for the ride — or you’re not. If you’re in, it’s a pretty brisk tale that gets more engrossing at it goes, ending in a third act that turns the tables in some fun ways. With Charles Durning and Barnard Hughes.