Since the only sort of travel any of us are actually engaging in during the COVID-19 era is some very hearty channel surfing, this seems like a good a moment as any to indulge in movies about travel and, more specifically, films set in Venice, Italy. And so I watch a bit of an oldie, the 1973 film set in Venice, “Don’t Look Now,” an occult thriller of sorts starring Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland (actor Kiefer Sutherland’s dad).
This post may contain affiliate links in which the Bashful Adventurer earns a small commission if you click on the link and make a purchase from the site.
Films Set in Venice: The Plot of Don’t Look Now
Based on a Daphne du Maurier work, “Don’t Look Now” follows a couple from the death of their daughter to their escape to Venice afterward for a much-needed getaway (although it’s a working one for Donald Sutherland’s character).
Venice, of course, becomes a main character in any film set there, but the city apparently played a supporting actor role when it was originally released.
What everyone really talked about way back when was an intimate scene between Sutherland and Christie that almost earned it a rating above R in the United States.
The New York Times review called the film “an elegant travelogue that treats us to second-sightseeing in Venice.” Vincent Canby, Film: ‘Don’t Look Now,’ a Horror Tale: Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie in Leads The Cast Suspense Yarn Turns Into a Travelogue,N.Y. Times (Dec. 10, 1973). But there was a plot, really!
Donald Sutherland Gets a Dream Job in Venice, Italy
Characters in film so rarely have occupations resembling those in our day-to-day worlds, and Don’t Look Now is no exception. Sutherland’s job is restoring old churches, so how convenient that he should have a gig in the watery city immediately following his daughter’s watery death. Christie, as his spouse, tags along to escape home’s bleakness. The two conveniently leave their surviving child back in boarding school in England.
Viewers are treated to their own visit to Venice as we follow Donald’s latest project, which also affords us nice glimpses of a church’s interior as well as Venice’s walkways.
Does this Film about Venice Make You Want to Go There?
Of course, the film had me at the word Venice, but other prospective viewers might be intrigued by the other-worldly part of the story. Sutherland and Christie’s characters have lunch one day, where they happen to encounter a blind psychic. Only in Venice, right? The intuitive, predictably, is in touch with their dead daughter’s spirit.
Sutherland, the guy whose character makes his living restoring churches, surprisingly is skeptical of the woman’s ability. He’s going to resist the spiritual element even though he received a bit of a sign as his daughter was drowning. Christie’s character, however, buys right in. She’s a true believer. Sutherland’s character is going to need more proof. And, yes, he gets it.
Although this particular couple happens to be traveling during a time of duress and great sadness in their lives, the joy of travel—a willingness to talk to strangers in a restaurant, in a ladies’ room, when they happen to be speaking English—works its way into this film nevertheless. This Venice movie is also amusing for its depiction of life before cell phones when knowing exactly where someone was or whether they’d gotten to where they were going was much more challenging.
Like every other movie set in Venice, ever, of course this film makes you want to go there. And if you happen to be contacted by spirits while in Venice, perhaps you should listen to them.
—Lori Tripoli
Lori Tripoli is the editor and publisher of Bashful Adventurer. Based in the New York City vicinity, she writes about travel for the shy set.
Contact Lori at loritripoli @ bashfuladventurer.com.
Looking for more films set in Venice, Italy?
You might like this post:
Best Movies Set in Venice, Italy: Katharine Hepburn’s Summertime Romance
Share on Pinterest!
Are you planning to visit Venice, Italy?
Read more about visiting Venice here: