Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Inquisitive journalist Grace Collier is horrified when she witnesses her neighbor, fashion model Danielle Breton, violently murder a man. Panicking, she calls the police. But when the detective arrives at the scene and finds nothing amiss, Grace is forced to take matters into her own hands. Her first move is to recruit private investigator Joseph Larch, who helps her to uncover a secret about Danielle's past that has them both seeing double.
Brian De Palma's early thriller is a genuinely singular piece of cinema — a Hitchcock homage that transcends imitation through De Palma's audacious split-screen sequences, Bernard Herrmann's unsettling score, and a deeply strange psychosexual premise involving conjoined twins. The cinematography is a standout, with the split-screen technique used during the murder sequence being truly innovative and visually arresting. The film's conception and tone are unmistakably De Palma's own, earning high Novelty marks. The plot is engaging and twisty enough, though it loses coherence in its final act — the ending in particular feels rushed and oddly unsatisfying, leaving too many threads dangling and resolving ambiguously in a way that frustrates rather than intrigues. The acting is serviceable; Margot Kidder brings intensity to the dual role but the supporting cast is uneven. Overall a cult gem with genuine formal ambition.